Dear Elena,
Thank you very much for the excellent service provided by Express to Russia.
I was very pleased with the immediate response to my questions and with bookings made for me by the agency.
If I visit Russia in the future,I will definitely contact Express to Russia again.
Best regards,
read more

Natalia, Russia

I found the service reliable and quick, the responses were prompt and profound. I would recommend your company to my friends read more

Saira, USA

Hi Elena,
We had a great time in Russia, and the tour was amazing! Both our tour guides Lena (in Moscow) and Irina (in St. Petersburg) were wonderful, and went out of their way to make our trip memorable. They clearly imparted their passion for their respective cities, and made navigating... read more

Customer Reviews

Express to Russia is a member of ASTA (the American Society of Travel Agents). Offering excellent customer service is extremely important to us. We promise to give our all to make your trip to Russia a wonderful experience. We want to leave you with great impressions of your Russian trip. Below are some things our past clients have said about our services and Russian tours. We also have past customers who are willing to talk about their experiences with our company. If you would like these references, please contact us and we will put you in touch. We hope that you will visit Russia with us! 2015 should be the most exciting year yet!

Thank you very much for the excellent service provided by Express to Russia.
I was very pleased with the immediate response to my questions and with bookings made for me by the agency.
If I visit Russia in the future,I will definitely contact Express to Russia again.

Best regards,

Nelica, Toronro, Canada

I found the service reliable and quick, the responses were prompt and profound. I would recommend your company to my friends

Natalia, Russia

Hi Elena,

We had a great time in Russia, and the tour was amazing! Both our tour guides Lena (in Moscow) and Irina (in St. Petersburg) were wonderful, and went out of their way to make our trip memorable. They clearly imparted their passion for their respective cities, and made navigating a new country easy and fun. All our pick-ups and drop-offs were prompt, and everything was perfectly scheduled. I really loved my time in Russia, and hope to return sometime! Also I want to mention that Galina was great in helping us organize our tour. She answered all my questions quickly and promptly.

Thanks for a great trip, and a wonderful introduction to Russia!

Saira, USA

Dear Elena,
Thanks for arranging my tickets to Saint Petersburg & back smoothly & professionally.
Wish you and your company the very best.
With best regards

Anjum, India

Thank you and your team for making all the arrangements for our trip to Russia this spring.

We were in Helsinki on business and wondered how we could combine this trip with a trip to Russia.
We contacted you because we had had such good service last year.

You took all the stress out of our hands and helped us with visas, a fantastic train trip from Helsinki to St Petersburg, excellent accommodation and two full days of excursions.
You arranged for a driver to meet us at the station on arrival and for the two full days of our trip.

He was excellent. He gave us an exciting few days driving round St Petersburg and out to Pushkin and Pavlos. He took us to the Mariinsky on our first evening and was happy waiting for us..it was longer than we all thought..but fantastic.
On our two full days our driver Vladimir and our guide Olga were pleased to show us their city. They were enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. They wanted us to enjoy the Hermitage and the Palaces out of town which we did. We stopped to look at the canals and seven bridges. We stopped frequently to take photos.they were both very professional and lovely people.

It was a trip to remember and it was possible because our driver and guide were so good and the itinerary you planned for us was perfect.
We would give five star ratings to your organisation, our driver and guide, the places visited and our accommodation.
We will definitely tell our friends about you.
We will definitely contact you if we are planning another trip next year.

With our thanks and best wishes,

Angela and John Dyke

Thank you and your team for making all the arrangements for our trip to Russia this spring.

We were in Helsinki on business and wondered how we could combine this trip with a trip to Russia.
We contacted you because we had had such good service last year.

You took all the stress out of our hands and helped us with visas, a fantastic train trip from Helsinki to St Petersburg, excellent accommodation and two full days of excursions.
You arranged for a driver to meet us at the station on arrival and for the two full days of our trip.

He was excellent. He gave us an exciting few days driving round St Petersburg and out to Pushkin and Pavlos. He took us to the Mariinsky on our first evening and was happy waiting for us..it was longer than we all thought..but fantastic.
On our two full days our driver Vladimir and our guide Olga were pleased to show us their city. They were enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. They wanted us to enjoy the Hermitage and the Palaces out of town which we did. We stopped to look at the canals and seven bridges. We stopped frequently to take photos.they were both very professional and lovely people.

It was a trip to remember and it was possible because our driver and guide were so good and the itinerary you planned for us was perfect.
We would give five star ratings to your organisation, our driver and guide, the places visited and our accommodation.
We will definitely tell our friends about you.
We will definitely contact you if we are planning another trip next year.
We are happy to give references to interested people.
You are welcome to put our message on your web site and on face book.
I will send photos with a second email.

With our thanks and best wishes,

Angela and John, UK

Dear Express to Russia Team,

We would like to thank you for your assistance in planning our trip to visit Russia.
Our trip was wonderful and we continue to talk about our experiences often. We were very pleased with all aspects of the trip and enjoyed it very much. We particularly enjoyed our guides--they were all excellent. Our drivers were also very good.

Please extend a special thank you to each of our guides: Zina and Lena in Moscow; Irene in Vladimir; and Oxana in St. Petersburg.
Each of them were terrific. They were very knowledgable and professional. In addition they were engaging and willing to answer all of our questions. We enjoyed them all and found them very pleasant to travel with. We have traveled a great deal and had many guides over the years, and found each of our guides on our trip to Russia were top quality.

Jo Ann, USA

Hi Galina,

Just a note to say thank you for the fantastic river cruise in August from Moscow to St Petersburg. We had an amazing time - enjoyed every minute of our trip. Loved your country, and are coming back to St Petersburg in early May on a cruise. Thanks for organizing everything so well. We had no problems what so ever. We have told all our friends they must to go to
Russia!
Thanks so much again.
Kerry & Jean

Kerry and Jean, New Zealand

Dear Elena,
Thank you for your email. I was going to send one to Asya. We had the most wonderful trip. We never realized that Russia was such a beautiful country and so steeped in history. The crew members could not do enough to help us, always with a cheerful smile. We learnt some Russian dancing, and completed the Russian language course. There were only 12 English speaking passengers and our tour guide was a young lady called Anastasia, we all fell in love with her.
Kindest Regards
Heather and Carl

Heather, Australia

Dear Ms Elena,

We just arrived from this wonderful trip through Russia,Mongolia and China!
No words to describe our satisfaction! Everything went in a perfect way!
All guides, arranged by Express to Russia and local representatives, were full knowledgeable.
Congratulation and we are open to giving all recommendations regarding your company.

In special, give to Miss Asya our bests thanks for the full assistance.

Bests Regards

Humberto

Humberto, Brazil

I had a grateful experience with Express to Russia services, the invitation letter helped to enjoy a lifetime trip to Russia, Thank you

Bertin Contreras, Mexico

I want to thoroughly recommend the services of Express to Russia. We booked an 8 day cruise on the MS Leo Tolstoy with Galina and she was simply wonderful to deal with - nothing was a problem and she was so prompt in answering my stupid questions! And the cruise was absolutely fabulous and represents really good value for money.

Lesley Chalmers, New Zealand

I would like to thank you all, especially Asya, for setting up our cruise Moscow-St. Pete cruise at the end of May! We loved Russia, and the cruise was first-class! We plan to return again in the future. I wish more people from the USA would visit Russia to see how our two nations are more alike than different!

Angela Daly, USA

We booked our train from Moscow to St Petersburg using tour operator Express to Russia. I must state how impressed and pleased we were by the efficiency and help we received in booking our train. The journey itself was excellent, and the first class service superb. We will certainly use Express to Russia again in the future. H & K Bessos

Hagop Bessos, UK

Express to Russia provided my daughter and I will all the online tools we needed to plan our train trip between irkutzk and St.petersburg. I was consistently impressed by the level of support provided via email. We could not have done this trip without this excellent website. Highly recommended! This site is reliable, offers quick turn-around, and provides excellent serve at reasonable costs.

Cheers – we had a great time

Nandy, Canada

Dear Asya and Express to Russia,

we are back to US from amazing trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg organized by you. We are so happy that used your service for this tour and will be using it again and again if we decide to come back in the future. Hotel choice was the best ever we can wish for in term of location, cleanness, breakfasts, and customer service. I would definitely recommend your company to my friends and family. Special THANKS to your tour guide Lena in Moscow and driver Vladimir in SP. These 2 people and of course ASYA deserve the outstanding review for their performance. :)

Best regards,
Alexandra and family from Chicago

Alexandra, USA

Большое спасибо. Thank you very much, Express to Russia , for your perfect service in getting me my invitation, voucher and TransSib tickets. No stress whatsoever!

Yves Goovaerts, Belgium

Enjoyed our stay in the Moscow apartment

Dudley Naumowicz, UK

To Asya & Dasha,
We would like to thank you very much for making the arrangements for our river cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow in Sept-Oct. We were very pleased with every aspect of the cruise. The accommodation and the meals were excellent, the staff very knowledgeable & courteous, the quality of the tours was excellent. We found the lectures on the boat very interesting & everything possible was done to make sure the tourists had a wonderful experience. Thank you, too, for arranging the hotel for us the night before the cruise. It was in a great location & very comfortable. All aspects of the trip were wonderful & it was great value for money spent. Our sincere thanks.
Sincerely,

Over a period of two months we found the City Realty agents unfailingly helpful in a complicated transaction that was much more to our advantage than it was to City Realty’s. I will readily recommend them to anyone because of their integrity and excellent service.

Vic Lipski, Wellington, New Zealand

Express to Russia was a great help in booking our river cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg. We just knew those two cities would show us a good time and we were hoping to find other Russian hidden treasures during the cruise. We weren't disappointed. I've included our picture from Kizhi to show you an example of the old, wooden architecture.

Margaret Kemp, Canada

The trip was truly wonderful, and your company and Ms. Belskaya were more than helpful, professional and prompt with answers to all of my many questions. We loved the cruise/boat, the staff, the food and the on-shore excursions with the very qualified guides. The price ranges for the boat were very fair, and, in short, we were thrilled with the whole Russia experience and what you provided. We are recommending the trip to all of our friends in Canada - you have our full endorsement!
With thanks,

Michael and Nancy, Toronto, Canada

Hi Asya,

Vada and I returned from Russia on Thursday with fond memories of our fabulous trip. Everything fell into place without a glitch. Thank you so much for your assistance and patience in answering our many questions and scheduling transfers, etc. Everyone was on time and very accommodating. We cannot thank you enough for your help!

Luellen, USA

Many thanks for the PERFECT trip to RUSSIA you arranged for me, Vada, and my traveling friend, Luellen! Every single transfer, reservation and cruise detail was handled professionally and as a result, our trip was a great success. I recommend Express to Russia for anyone planning a wonderful experience in majestic RUSSIA.

I am home with thoughts of Russia! Suzi and I had such a wonderful trip. We enjoyed visiting the museums, palaces and churches, sampling your traditional food and learning about your country and culture.
The hotels were wonderful and their locations were perfect.
Most of all, we enjoyed your tour guides. They were so nice and knowledgeable. May I give extra praise to Margarite and Anatoly. He was such a gentleman, opening our doors and watching out for us. Margarite was so enjoyable to be with!
Thank you again for the tickets to the folk show. It was something I would not have thought of going to but I am so glad we went. It was so much fun and very entertaining.
Everything on the tour went perfect and I would not hesitate to recommend your company to anyone planning to visit Russia.

Thank you again,

Renee, USA

Dear Dasha,
I want to thanks and also congratulate because all your arrangements and itinerary worked as a swiss watch, in other words, " perfect"; I also want you to congratulate because all your guides, the young and the not so young ones were really delightful, I learned a lot from them and i also had wonderful conversation with them, and Alex the driver, just perfect. Thanks to all of you.
Regards,

Antonio, Ecuador

Thank you for arranging our transfers in St Petersburg and Moscow. Our drivers were courteous, on time and above all drove very responsibly considering the way other drivers behaved, particularly in Moscow !!!

John Clinning, South Africa

We used this company on our recent visit to St Petersburg. We booked through them in lieu of doing the excursion from our cruise line. We were EXTREMELY PLEASED with our driver and our English speaking guide - Tatiana. We were a family of 3 and were taken to the sights we requested with expertise, efficiency and great knowledge. We had a wonderful experience and we thank you for that!!

Terry Frith, USA

Dear Dasha,

Thanks for all it was a memorable trip for a life time. All your team was great very professional and same time very much humanitarian
Thanks again

Claudia, Canada

Express to Russia did a great job for us. We had traveled to a lot of places. Russia is tough to do on your own because few people speak another language and the majority of people in the tourist business do not care or are plain rude. This company arranged a 4 day tour of the Golden Ring for us. They were very professional with great customer service. They had a van, a driver and a professional tourist guide assigned to us, who had everything well planned and executed. Mind you, this is not Las Vegas and the infrastructure is just not there. However, unless you go with a big group tour, to me this is the best option and you will see and learn more about this beautiful region. A couple of extras were that our guide went out of her way to make sure we got to the right station and train when they dropped us off to go to St Petersburgh and the tour director at the office saved us at the last minute getting us the same train tickets where another Russian tour company failed miserably. I would do it again, no question. Very happy.

Ricardo, USA

Dear Asya -

We just wanted to thank you again for your help in setting up our Russian cruise. We've appreciated your support all the way through - from taking us through the complex paperwork of the visa application to talking to our taxi driver in St Petersburg to make sure that we were in the right place. Great service!

We absolutely loved the cruise! We learned a lot, relaxed a lot and were dazzled by beautiful cities and landscapes. We couldn't have asked for a better introduction to Russia.

Thanks again!

Patricia, USA

Dear Asya

We rerturned home yesrterday and I have a need to write without delay to let you know that we had a fantastic time in Russia and that we very greatly appreciate everything you did to ensure that everything was organised to perfection. We were not easy clients, but you responded to all our queries, requests, uncertainties and crises with speed, friendliness and superb efficiency.

In particular, I must thank you for dealing with the problem of our missed connection in Dubai. Your immediate response to our frantic messages was most reassuring and it was wonderful to be met in Moscow by a concerned and welcoming driver even though it was midnight by the time we cleared customs and immigration. All the other arrangements went like clockwork and we had a wonderful time thoughout our tour. The on-board manager, Natalya, was knowledgeable and efficient - and a lovely person - and beautiful weather contributed greatly to our overall experience.

I know you didn't arrange the weatgher, but you arranged everything else, and for that we thank you most warmly.

Sincerely

John Boje, South Africa

Hi Asya

I was very happy with the bookings you made for me.
I always got a response within 24 hours and the answers were clear and accurate.
I will certainly recommend Express to Russia to my friends and will use your service again.
For me one of the main benefits was ease of communication in English which was not that easy
in the rest of St Petersburg. I now rate the city a must see for everybody who likes to travel.

Regards

Gillian, Australia

Thanks a lot for your help of booking the Train from Moscow to St. Petersburg . Everything just went acording to the plan ! :-)

Helder Cruz, Portugal

Hello Asya,
I want to let you know that I have nothing but great things to say about your company and especially Galina.
She is most professional, prompt in her responses, always addressed all my questions, (and I had a lot of them ). I had a chance to meet her in St. Petersburg and she is as nice in person as in her emails. I was a little hesitant at first, dealing with an unknown company found on the internet (actually my husband found you), but the service exceeded my expectations. I usually try to deal with local companies when I travel, and you did not disappoint. Everything happened as Galina said it would, drivers and tour guides were on time, spoke good english and were very nice. Apartments we got from City Realty were clean, well equipped and well located.
We loved Russia and all the places that we saw. We wish we could have stayed longer.
It was a pleasure dealing with your company.

Margaret B., Canada

Dear Asya,
I booked with your agency a train ticket from Kursky station in Moscow to Nizhniy Novgorod. Everything perfect! e-ticket immediately available, immediate validation of the conductor, train beautiful and on time, congratulations! you are very efficient! I will make positive publicity in Italy.., greetings...

Daniele Gandini, Italy

Asya,

I will be happy to write a review of our visits to St Petersburg and Moscow.

The guides that you arranged were just outstanding. I cannot say enough good things of them, but our guide in Moscow would have to be one of the most knowledgeable guides we have ever had. She was able to provide information on any and all questions we had on Russian history, and also worldly knowledge. She was able to communicate her personal experiences in a way that we felt like we really got an understanding of the country. We could not have gotten this from reading a book.

Asya, I would also like to thank you and compliment you for all of the help you gave me in planning this trip. Your quick and helpful email responses to my questions made my work much easier. I will be happy to provide references to your prospective clients if you would like.

Thank you for all you did for us.

Milton Donaldson, USA

Hi Galina,
We have returned home from our travels in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and I wanted to thank you for your part in arranging our trip. Everything went extremely well and we were very pleased with our experiences in Russia. I appreciated your emails in answering all my questions, and the travel was everything we had hoped for. Both hotels were excellent; guides and drivers very professional, helpful, and prompt. We had a great vacation!

Mary Kae, Canada

Dear Asya,

Thank you very much for yor kind email! We were really pleased with the service your company provided for our railway journey from St Petersburg to the Crimea. Ordering process was very smooth and efficient, all our minute requests were met. It was especially important that we did not have to travel to collect the tickets (as is surprisingly still a commonplace all over Russia) - our tickets were simply brought to our home address. Everything was simply impeccable! We shall certainly want to use the service again and will encourage those travelling to and from Russia to use your business.

With warm regards,

Olga Rusinovich, Russia

Dear Dasha,

We have to say that the whole tour is a very nice and interesting, we admire the heritage of Russia and acknowledge the richness of this land.
Every point of interest in Moscow as well as in the surrounding of the Golden Ring is surprisingly beautiful, and of course St Petersburg with its Hermitage is marvellous.
The Cosmos hotel is ok, only the service was very slow when we checked in due to too many guests and too little staff, and also the entrance is at a lower level than the reception lobby and since there is no lift, every guest has to bring his luggage by hand through the stairs which is not recommended for older people. one other thing that they must take care of is that the strong smell of cigarettes' smoke comes in the corridors of the non smoking hotel floor.
One Cathedral St Isaac we found it a pity that we could not enter inside.
But in the end, the tour is still a very nice tour, although the experience of being pickpocketed in the Metro in St Petersburg, and especially the 7 hours long interrogation with the police was embarrassing and taking away our precious time that we otherwise can use to have another happy and funny entertainment in the city.
Luckily we got your help Dasha, our thanks again.

yours truly,

Erma, Indonesia

Dear Dasha,

Re: Private Tour to Moscow and St. Petersburg

This serves to express our heartiest gratitude to you, and your team for making our first visit to Russia most enjoyable and memorable.

The remarkable experience already started the first time we received your feedback, upon our request for a private tour to the specific places we wanted to visit. Your most professional attitude and response immediately gave us a comfortable impression on you and your company.

Truly enough, the professionalism was reflected in the entire tour, from the moment we arrived in Moscow until our departure. The three guides and three drivers, namely Leana, Elena, and Alia, plus Alex and the two gentlemen in Moscow, did a smashing job. They were not only knowledgeable in their fields of service, but were always willing to go an extra mile to assist with our ad-hoc requests. The fluency of the guides’ English and their personalities, with a touch of humour, especially in Elena was an extra bonus for us! A real team work was felt among them (guide and driver) which greatly contributed to the success of our trip.

Naturally, you were a “wonder”, in that you attended to each and every request of ours in detail, up until the end of the tour. Although there was a slight hiccup in the transfer from the hotel to the airport in Moscow, which was due to an accident, your personal call to ensure we reached the airport on time was greatly appreciated.

As regards the two hotels you recommended, namely the Aquamarine in Moscow and Rossi in St. Petersburg, they were both good. Aquamarine was new and had everything provided from the customer’s perspective. The choice of the breakfast buffet was plentiful and in good quality. All the staff there was friendly, helpful and kind. This was specially felt when they offered their best to assist with the replacement taxi to the airport. The only suggestion we had was perhaps to provide a shuttle service to the Red Square since it was probably a main spot for most tourists.

The Rossi’s location was great as it was within walking distance to Nevsky Prospect, and again, the staff was most friendly and helpful. Since it was an older hotel, we fully understood its limitations. Our room was less convenient as it only had one socket, and no drawers for our clothes, and a laundry line was missing in the bathroom. What we would have great appreciated was a water boiler, as coming from SE Asia, we were not used to having cold drinks from the fridge all the time.

In all, it was a brilliant trip, thanks to you and your team, and we would definitely spread the words around about your company.

Best regards,

Jacqueline, Hong Kong

Dear Asya,

I wish to express my sincere thanks for the arrangement which you made for my wife,s trip and myself to St. Petersburg. Everything was OK and we have enjoyed every moment. I wish to express also our appreciation to Catherine (the guide) and to Vladimir (the car driver) who were very helpful and professional. Many thanks to you all.

Best regards,

Eugen Dijmărescu, Romania

Hi Asya,

I'm back from my trip to Russia and would like to say thank you again for your incredible service and support. I'll certainly recommend Express to Russia whenever I have the opportunity to.

Thanks again, best regards,

Marcio Leibovitch, Brazil

Everything went so smooth. It was the best decision to book my trip with your company. I will happily recommend your company to my friends, and hope to get in touch soon about my next year holiday. Thanks again to Galina Belskaya for the excellent job in organising my trip!

Tunde, Hungary

Dear Asya,

I would be delighted to serve as a reference for your company. You handled my visa invitation and registration with efficiency, and you answered all my questions with patience and clarity. I have to say that too often my husband and I ran into poorly managed concerns in our time in Russia. However, Express to Russia stood out as a shining exception. We came to trust your company and to feel we would get both service and good advice from you whenever we needed it.

We are most grateful, and we send you all our good wishes for the success your company richly deserves.

Cordially,

Mary

Mary, USA

HI Galina;
We greatly enjoyed our trip to Russia- the tour arrangements worked out very well. WE really enjoyed our guides- very informative and helpful, especially Elena who we had on the second day. Thanks for your help. Hope we can return some day!
Regards

Joan, Canada

Elena and Asya:
Thank you both for making our visit to St. Petersburg so enjoyable. Asya - your prompt replies to my many emails and your efficient organization were greatly appreciated. Elena - you were a delight. I don't know how you remembered all those names and dates! Your knowledge and enthusiasm made our 2 days with you very interesting and memorable. I will recommend you both to any friends we hear who are travelling to St. Petersburg. Thank you again for 2 wonderful days.
Sincerely,

Phil Walton, USA

Dear Dasha,

Thank you very much for your organisation.

The trip was very interesting and the guide (Irina) was fantastic !

Thank you again.

Paul, France

Hi Dasha,

I am Michael Castro, I just came back from Russia which a fall in love with after my trip.

Our two tour guides were awesome, nice and polite, very professional. Please give my respect to Elena in Moscow and Lila in St. Petersburg, the same to both drivers in Moscow and St. Petersburg (Vladimirs) , all of them made a good job, I will highly recommend their service and your travel agency if I hear someone wants to go to Russia.
The hotel in Moscow, the Cosmo, the location was good but the service was poor, the staff at the front desk were not friendly or nice at all times, it seems that they did not like their jobs, they never looked at your eyes when you were talking to them and every time I got a phone call from home they made it difficult to who ever was trying to reach me, right away when they answered the phone after the second ring, they hang up on people, never got a message and were never nice to who ever was calling.
The rooms had not iron board or an iron which is standard in a hotel, the second room me had, the toilet seat had stains on it, there was not water inside the refrigerator and neither on the floor, the restaurants inside the hotel were not good enough only one Japanese and one Italian were.
I just want to thank you and your agency for an excellent service, I will promote it as much as I can, the only negative thing was the staff front desk from the Cosmo Hotel in Moscow.

Sincerely,

Michael Castro, USA

Thanks for helping me out so much in Russia! Made my trip so much easier not having to worry about all the small things. :)

Emily Sorrells, USA

Great, well organised company and would highly recomend them to freinds. Thanks express to Russia!

Jessica Barrette, Australia

My business trip went very well without issues. The exit stamp officer was rather intense in examination of all paperwork (he actually gave an elderly couple in front of me in line a lot of trouble). I got the standard look over and then waved through to my flight. My Wife is Russian so we of course will be returning home when we can. Thank you for the efficient documents.
Hopefully we can do much more business in this wonderful country called Russia.

Thanks so much for booking tickets for me on the Trans-Mongolian rail! Your site gave me the best prices, which meant that I could save more money for the rest of my trip, and I found the whole process to be relatively simple and straight-forward. Thanks again!

Catherine Fullarton, Canada

Thank you for the excellent job. The whole process for my visa invitations went on really fast, for a correct price and without any trouble. I will definitely come back to you for my future trips. Best regards.

Luca Schnarrenberger, Switzerland

Our visas (letters of invitation) and train tickets, booked through Express to Russia, were processed efficiently and we had no problems when using them (to get our Russian visas and when catching the trains) - The train rides from Helsinki to St Petersburg and then Moscow are fabulous in winter by the way - The letters of invitation were really helpful, particularly as it enabled us to make our own bookings for accommodation (online before) and tours (when in St Petersburg and Moscow), which saved us a lot of money and gave us the flexibility we wanted. Definitely would recommend Express to Russia.

Allister Hill, Australia

We went to St Petersburg with a UK tour company but booked an extension to Moscow, and Asya organised this. She was fantastically helpful responding quickly to all my questions, and when we arrived everything worked perfectly. The guides were great fun and knowledgeable.

Alan Moss, UK

Dear Asya,

Everything worked perfectly with the visa invitation and my friends enjoyed Moscow.

Have a nice day

Kind regards,

Patrick Blust, Switzerland

I've been to Russia at least 15 times now and I have used Express to Russia for my Visa Invitation Letters for the vast majority of the times I have gone. Their service has always been exceptional even when I have encountered problems, they have been quick to accommodate me. For those of you who have spent a decent amount of time in Russia, you will already know that most Russian companies do not exactly value customer service, but I can say for sure this one does!

Joe Frates, USA

Dear Asya

The two transfers you provided both went very smoothly, with a clear sign deployed at the airport and agreement on exactly when/where to meet for the return. Car was fine too.

Enjoyed talking to the driver, Vlad, as well, who is a nice guy.

Best regards,

Richard Crabtree, UK

Thanks for your good services ! Keep it up !

Glenn Camilleri, Malta

My daughter Maddy and I used Express to Russia for apartments in Moscow and St. Petersburg, for transfers to and from the airport, for the train between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and for a visa invitation. Your service was excellent, and the apartments were well-located and comfortable. We'll definitely use you again!

Stuart Dunwoody, USA

Organised a great apartment and transfers for our trip to Moscow and St Petersburg. I would recommend City Realty to anyone considering a trip to these wonderful cities.

Robyn Bunting, Australia

Good trip to St Petersburg, everything was just as expected and the tour guide Rita was excellent!!

Percy Woodrow, USA

Thank you for your great service. We came back to Japan and start my work this year. I very very very happy with the trip. If will visit again Russia or neighbor countries use your WEBSITE again. and talk to my friend. Thanks again. I hope your business more success.

Yuichi Yamamoto, Japan

Galina,

Happy New Year! I want you to know that Percy and I had a great time in St Petersburg. Our guide, Rita, was very attentive to our wishes and extremely knowledgable about the local history. She answered all our questions and made sure that we were happy each day with the tour. The tour of the city was a lot fun but Rita's expertise and care made it memorable and Vladmir did an excellent job of driving. We didn't experience a single problem during the entire adventure so my compliments to you and your staff for a job very well. I have already recommended your service to others and look forward to booking another tour with you in the near future.

Randy, USA

Always exellent and timely service))) Happy New Year!

Muhsin Alhuraibi, USA

We had a fantastic time in st-petersburg, and the apartment was a good value for money with a great location. We have only praises for an excellent service provided by City Realty( Alla and the rest of the team).
We have recently deleted our Profiles from facebook, so we wish not be part of that anymore.
But We will be happy to give any recommendations to the potential guests.
All the best and thank you very much,

Anastasia and Dean

Very reliable company and friendly & helpful people - Anastasia has been very supportive through out the tour. I used the company for visa, apartment, airport pick up and police registration and had no problem at all. Will use their services again if needed.

Mobeen Aslam, UK

Excellent service.

Viggo Hansen, Denmark

I had an incredible experience with Express to Russia. Read about it on my blog! Thank you guys!!
http://novackadventures.blogspot.com/

Danielle Novack, USA

I have just returned home from a wonderful holiday visiting St Petersburg and Moscow. My guides and drivers were the most amazing people, very knowledgable and went out of their way to make sure I was happy with my holiday. Russia is beautiful, the places are gorgeous and I loved the people I met who were extremely welcoming, warm and hospitable. Thankyou Express to Russia, I recommend you highly and without hesitation to anyone considering a holiday to Russia !!

Desiree Tomas, Australia

Our group had a wonderful time during our Russian river cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Though it was raining in Mandrogi, we had some fun during the barbecue lunch, as shown in the picture with our beautiful lunch server, Natasha, of M/S Chernyshevsky.

Joser Baello, USA

We booked an apartment in the old city centre, just in the neighbourhood of the Hermitage and other museums. This was great, as we had a lot of rain during our stay. The apartment was very quiet and we had a nice stay.

Pauline van der Zee, Germany

Dasha,

Our time in Moscow was wonderful thanks to your very knowledgable guides.
The hotel was lovely much nicer than it looks on the Internet. The only issue was that they only served beer. No wine or spirits. At the end of the day it is nice to sit and have a glass of wine or cocktail.

The hotel was helpful in helping to track our luggage.

Vikie & Ted Hariton, USA

Hi Asya
I would like to thank you for an unforgetable river cruise.
Firstly i like to apologise for taking so long to write to you. I was on an extended holiday in Europe and my home land Cyprus and I only came back to Australia about three weeks ago. And of course after being away for so long there are quite a few things you have to attend to. On top of that I lost, somehow, about three month's of emails. I have no idea how this happened. Anyway now everything seems to be back to normal.

The cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg was wonderful . Everything exceeded my expectations.
The organisation of the whole cruise from the time I arrived in Moscow to the very end was fautless. Everything went like clockwork. The cruise itself was exactly what I expected and in that short period of time we saw quite a bit of Russia. I have no problems in recommending your company and the triver cruise to my friends. Of course the success of the whole package was largely due to you who organised it so well. Congratulations

Many thanks

Panayiotis Stamati, USA

We have just returned from a Russian River Cruise, Moscow to St Petersburg, thanks to Aysa and her crew we had a wonderful trip and will definitely use Express to Russia when booking our next visit !

Peter Muller, South Africa

Express to Russia did a great job with helping me on my recent trip to Moscow. Thanks.

John Wilkerson, USA

We just stayed in apartment Ministry Deluxe and what to say, we will definitely be back!
the position is very central and the apartment was very clean and very big... could accomodate 4 person very easily
good surprise was the free of charge wi-fi
thank you Anastasia, see you again in March!

Nicola Begotti, Italy

Dear Asya,

I'm afraid that I am not on Facebook, so can't become a fan, but I am more than happy to recommend "Express to Russia". The trip was wonderful, and everything was arranged very well. All my dealings with Express to Russia were efficient and friendly and everything ran smoothly on the ground in Russia, too.
Thank you for a wonderful holiday of a lifetime.

All best,

Cate Paterson, Australia

I really had a good time in Moscow and St. Petersburg last days despite the rain and do a little cold.
was a beautiful trip through the Express to Russia that had also fortunate to have two excellent guides, as well as motorists.
If you have the opportunity to travel again, I will undoubtedly through the Express to Russia.

Clara Maria Grimberg, Brazil

Dear Asya, I have been home for just under a week and wanted to thank you for your organization and assistance.
The Gold Ring Tour was exceptional, Heather and I enjoyed it very much, a historical trip I would suggest to anyone
travelling to Russia. Our driver, Sergei and our guide, Tatiana were a pleasure to be with and we were well looked
after and informed.

The train travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow, the transfers from the train station to the hotel and transfers from
the hotel to the Domodedovo airport were friendly, comfortable, efficient and reliable.

The Arbat House accomodation in Moscow was ideally located, very comfortable, good breakfast, and the staff was
very pleasant and helpful.

Thank you for all you considerations to my requests, your great organization and your attention to details. You have
made out trip memorable. I will willingly share my experiences with others and recommend they book with you.

Sincerely,

Violet Zaytsoff, USA

I have used your service three times for obtaining one month tourist visa. Your service is really express, cheap and working solution for obtaining visa to Russia! Voucher was accepted at embassy without problems. Thank you! Next time again with you

Tetrao Tetrix, Czech Republic

Thanks for your great help! We had e very good weekend in Moscow and enjoyed it very much.

Madlen Nicolaisen, Switzerland

Thank you for arranging such a wonderful trip for us. we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and found your services to be excellent. the connections and transfers were timely and professional and the apartment was a delight. Everything you said it would be.

Richard and Elizabeth Bond, USA

Your website made my trip to Russia easier. It's not so obvious to buy train or airplane tickets to and from Russia when we're abroad. Would recommend you to anyone!

Aileen Zancanaro Carniel, Brazil

After my wife and I visited Russia recently, it really changed our doubt of what we'll experienced in that country. Yes, to see is to believe and not just hearsay. Our Russia River Cruise trip was a remarkable and memorable one because of many fantastic places we've seen and wonderful experiences we've encountered. Very relaxing, excellent services and delicious Russian foods everyday during the cruise. Moscow, St. Petersburg and other places we visited in Russia are awesome. Clean, wide roads and streets and not to mention, it is safe to walk for sightseeing. Forget about drinking water filtration, bottled water is available everywhere and safe to drink. Other than many delicious breakfast foods, my wife loved very much the Russian oatmeal in the cruise every morning and I miss it too. Participating in the Talent Show during our river cruise was one of the highlights we've experience. There were 2 couples of us who performed the "Valse de La Guardia" dance and received the most highly applaud among participants. Not to be left out, tour guides were courteous, friendly and very considerate of giving us enough time for taking pictures and shopping. Many thanks and Kudos to Asya and Lina for their help and prompt responses before and during our trip that contributed to the success of our wonderful journey. We highly recommend the "Express to Russia" for their cheap, reasonable and courteous services than "Vikings". Hope to see you again Lina and Dimitry!!

Fernando Aquino, USA

You're really good and thank you for the support I received from you.

Aleksander Janik, Poland

We express our warmest thanks to Express to Russia for providing tickets for the Transsiberian Railway from Moscow to Beijing with a stop in Ulan-Bator. Their service was fast, friendly and always correct. They helped us out of the diverse situations we experienced when we applied for visas. The embassy officers required invitations, copy of tickets, stamps and signatures. And this is not easy deliver if you're not prepared when you finally come to the end of the line. Express to Russia provided immideate answer with the right documents, so that we could avoid queing for days. We were impressed, and felt we had made new personal friends in this travel agency.

Paal Mork, Norway

Hi Dasha,

All our arrangement worked well and the guides and drivers were professional, on time and knowledgeable.

Thanks for making our trip memorable,

Fran Sloan Sainas, USA

Asya, thanks so much for your help in organizing my first trip to Russia and specially St. Petersburg. I loved every moment of it and hope to come back soon.

Maud Dinand, USA

Thanks again for the help with your services! You truly made it an easy process, and with such little time!! I will definitely be using your services in the future!!

Daniel Garcia, USA

During our recent trip to St. Petersburg we used your services and we very happy with them. Our train tickets arrived at our hotel on time and as expected. I would recommend your services to anyone going to Russia. We will use your services again. Thank you.

Doug Johns, USA

Dear Galina,
Sonia and I would like to thank you for your services during our stay in Russia. You have provided reliable support in transportation, supplying tickets and guiding us in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. This made our trip enjoyable and free of concerns for arranging for all of this by ourselves. You have been very patient while preparing our trip to make sure that our desires (sometimes changing) have been met. I would like to make a special mention of our two guides in Moscow (both of the name Helen). They have been outstanding as far as the knowledge of the English language, interesting presentation, and adapting to our interests. We would not hesitate to recommend your company to other travelers.

Monika and Sonia, USA

Took a river cruise through Russia's waterways! We were "awed" from The Hermitage in St. Petersburg all the way to the underground Metro System!! Expresstorussia.com staff, specially Asya helped me each step of the way for any questions/inquiries!!! Thank you, Asya!!!

Melina, USA

Express to Russia was very effective for the Voucher. I had to make many changes, they always react very quickly. In addition, they are not expensive. I strongly recommends their services! Discover Russia, there is much to see for a single trip!

Alberic Gros, France

Hi Dasha,

Just wanted to thank you for all your help in planning my trip to Russia. Your attention to all my questions, availability, and flexibility ensured that this was a really memorable adventure.

Best regards

Alexander, USA

The cruise from Moscow to St.Petersburg was spectacular. The rivers, lakes and locks as well as the vast expanses of Russia boggled the mind. I walked miles and miles and felt so safe and people helped me at every turn. I loved the Armory in Moscow, the Hermitage was beyond fabulous. Pushkin and Catherine's Summer Palace were awe inspiring, to have such wealth for so many centuries is truly a great undertaking. It is a journey that I will remember and we will return.

Deborah Shephard, Canada

thank you Asya
I would be more than happy to recommend your cruises to anyone. The cruise was far better than I expected. The best thing about booking directly through you was that we were not a mainly Australian group as is the case when booked through Australia. We wanted to meet people from other countries and your cruise had a good range of international travelers which adds to the experience immensely. We made a lot of new friends and Russia is such a beautiful country I will never forget some of the amazingly beautiful places we visited. I also knew that the average age of these cruises through Australia are older retirees but again yours was a range of ages which was also very good.
I would love to come back again and see some other places in Russia as well.
All the crew on the ship were wonderful our guide Anastasia was such a beautiful girl and she was always willing to assist us and explain Russian way of life. The knowledge of the guides was excellent, the food was excellent the room was extremely comfortable and we truly have had the trip of a lifetime.

Leanne Ruditsch, Australia

Hi Asya and Galina,

Our trip to Russia was more than we expected it to be...well organized tours, good accomodation, efficient tour heads and drivers. Very commendable! We will surely commend your travel agency to our friends who will plan to visit Russia . Thank you for your fast and reliable agents like Galina, we have good memories of Russia.
Once again "pashiba", thank you.

Cecilia, Philippines

From start to finish, a memorable experience. Responses to inquiries were prompt, the ship (AntonChekov) met our expectations and the apartment rentals were well located, clean and provided the needed amenities. A most enjoyable holiday! Thank you.

Karen Esser Nicholls, USA

We have just come back from Russia (Cruise from Moscow to Saint Petersburg) with the Lev Tolstoj. It was absolutely fantastic. The staff was very professional and we really had a great time. We will definitively use your travel company again.

Thank you,

Sheila, Italy

Hi guys! My friends and I had a wonderful stay in your apartments both in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Excellent locations and clean and confy rooms. A huge thank you to the girls in both your offices, they were all very kind and helpful. I'd definitely travel again to Russia by your agency!

Paola E Basta, Italy

Dear Asya

Laola and I thoroughly enjoyed our time on the Anton Chekov. The tour was well organised and showed us the diversity of Russia. Your company was also reliable in that we were transferred on time from place to place. We would highly recommend the tour.
Thank you for all your help and assistance.

Afrothiti and Laola, South Africa

Hi Asya

We have now returned from our trip to Russia and had a most wonderful experience.Thanks for all your help in organising this and to your drivers in St Petersburg and Moscow and also your trip organiser in Moscow.
You all did your company proud.

Thanks

Ian, UK

Dear Yulia,

We are home safely now and I should like to confirm that the expedition to Novgorod went extremely well, as I told your colleagues in the office.

Dmitiri was there on time, drove carefully and accompanied us with the guide all day. We would recommend him highly.

Many thanks for finding Tatiana as a guide for us at Novgorod. She is excellent, loves her city and is a very well informed historian and archaeologist. She is also a very pleasant person and we enjoyed our day with her very much, as well as finding out a lot about her town and Russia in general.

We had a ery good trip to Saint Petersburg and were very happy with the services of Cityrealty. All went very well, the transfers and the apartment and we should like to thank you for your efficiency

With warm regards

Laraine and Heinrich Heese, France

Dear Galina,
We had a wonderful time and the tour surpassed our expectations. We were particularly impressed with the flawless coordination of the many transfers; that was the aspect of our stay in Russia that made us the most nervous, and we are so grateful it was handled perfectly. We also enjoyed all of our tour guides, particularly Mikhail, who took us around the Moscow Kremlin and Armoury museum, Natasha, our guide for the city tour of St. Petersburg, and Evgeny, the driver who took us around St. Petersburg. The hotels were also wonderful; my sister, the world traveller, and I, have agreed that the Moscow hotel was the best hotel we have ever stayed in.
Thank you again for a wonderful experience! It has been a pleasure!

Have a wonderful day!

Natalie and Gabriella Cheung, Canada

My husband and I booked a 7-night cruise on Volohod M/S Lev Tolstoy from St Petersburg to Moscow in August 2012. Asya at Express To Russia was excellent in every way - very helpful in providing advice, very quick in replying to emails, understanding about changes I made, and all arrangements she made worked out perfectly.
We loved the cruise and our only regret was not ensuring we had more time in St Petersburg and Moscow at each end of the cruise."

Fiona Berthold, New Zealand

I am very impressed with your services and very quick replies to any of the questions I had relating to my recent trip from St Petersburg to Moscow and on to Ulan bataar, thanks a loy!

Chantale Delrue, Belgium

Dear Asya, I must say I was extremely impressed with your service and the quality of professionalism of your staff and have already recommended to friends planning to visit Russia soon. I do not mean to offend, but the service is far beyond what I am used to getting in Russia, and it was an unexpected, pleasant surprise. I dealt with a few people in your office, all of whom were extremely professional and would also like to mention specifically the great service from Ekatarina Statsura. She was very patient with me and asnwered all my questions. Best,

Niklas, Germany

Express to Russia was simple and professional and yet personable. they always answered messages and questions and delivered our train tickets as promised.

David Diamond, Canada

Thank you Express to Russia, you guys are great and very efficient!

Lila Shull, USA

Me and my family found the web page Express to Russia reliable and ordered Invitation Letters for Russian Visa via that page. I was pleasantly susprised by online assistance and by speed of Invitation Letters delivery. Amazing! Plus the price is realy convenient, comparing it to prices at some of agents in my country! So this web page will for sure be my first choice next time I need something for Russia. Thank you and wish you further success in doing your business!!

Mojca Cesnik, Slovenia

Hello Asya:

I have just returned home from our extended trip, which included our visit to St. Petersburg. I would wholeheartedly recommend using your company for visiting St. Petersburg. Your service was excellent, prompt, and helpful. Our guide, Olga, was extremely helpful and informative, and our driver was cheerful and reliable. While the hotel was different from our past experience, it was comfortable and very well located for our needs.

I have already recommended your services to people who want to visit St. Petersburg. We learned and experienced far more than any cruise ship passengers possibly could, and feel you gave us good value for the cost.

Feel free to use my comments on your website or with prospective customers.

Express to Russia is everything it promised to be, and made our time in St. Petersburg enjoyable and memorable.

best,

Elizabeth Green, USA

Hi Asya,

Our tour guides and drivers were wonderful. The content of the tour in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novgorod was superb. You adjusted our schedule to accommodate all of the activities that we wanted to do outside of the tour and everything went smoothly.

Thanks so much.

Jan Lowe, USA

Asya,

We appreciate the assistance Express to Russia gave us with our invitation letters and would be happy to become a reference for your company.

Regards,

Sara Hill, USA

I was recently in Russia for an extended stay and used Express to Russia for part of my trip. They were extremely helpful, professional, and overwhelmingly prompt in my requests for information! I highly recommend Express to Russia!

Kathy Hotelling, USA

I used Express to Russia's service on a recent trip to St Petersburg. There are many organizations/companies on the internet offering services to Russia. However, you will never find a more efficient, faster and more personal service than Express to Russia. I will recommend them to anybody taking a trip to Russia. It is the only service i will ever use for all my future trips to Russia

John Pocock, UK

Thank you guys from City Realty Russia for the excellent service. The apartment at Olympiski prospect was perfectly located close to the city center, very tidy, spacious and quiet. The best way to stay in Moscow and avoid pricy hotels!

Frank Weilbach, Germany

Hello Galina,

I just wanted to thank you for such a loving trip; everything was just perfect, the guides, Tatiana and Vera were excelent, and the two hotels were very nice and comfortable; Russia is a wonderful country and the tour was so much better than I expected. I will recomend it to other people. Thank you so much.

Beatriz Elena, Colombia

Dasha,
My wife and I would like to thank you most sincerely for making all the arrangements for our recent visit to Russia. The arrangements exceeded our expectations and we were extremely impressed with both the guides and drivers that you allocated to us. Both of the hotels were very central and gave good standards of service.
All in all very good and we will have no hesitation in recommending your company to our friends.

Tourists from UK

We really appreciate your help. We have travelled in major ways throughout our life -- three times around the world, Germany, Austria, Cambodia, Nepal, etc. etc. -- yet the trip we took now was a first for us, since we have always been independent travelers. We thought the trip was wonderful -- the guides in Moscow and St. Petersburg were outstanding, the ship was everything that was promised. We were glad we booked a suite -- the regular staterooms seemed small for spending a week on board, but the difference in price was modest and well worth it.
Sincerely

Robert Auerbach, USA

Asya,

Thank you for a marvellous holiday. I have and will recommend your company to all my friends. The whole trip was excellently organised and very good value for money. I shall definitely be returning via your excellent service.

Bruce, South Africa

Dear Asya

Thank you. Yes, I liked your prompt service. I am planning to bring my
mom and sister and business partners to Russia later this year. I will
contact your company again for visa.
Thank you very much

Regards

Teruko Okamoto, Japan

Thank you to everybody at Express to Russia for assisting with tickets for the overnight train from Riga to Saint Petersburg and the express train from Saint Petersburg to Helsinki. The arrangements were first class and we had a very good travelling experience.

Andrew Lake, UK

Worked with me to obtain tickets to Helsinki. Thanks.

Ann Feyerherm, USA

I used express to Russia and had a great experience. Their service was great and so were the prices. I highly recommend them.

Fred Buchanan, Mexico

Many thanks to everyone at ExpresstoRussia.com for their recent assistance on my trip to Russia. My friend and I were the entire tour group and it was fabulous. No missed connections, no lines, everything convenient.

Our driver in St. Petersburg, Yevgeni Katz, was recruited by a friend to take us around for a few days, he took time off from his job as an engineer(!) and was an amazing guy.

Constance Mettler, USA

Asya,
I really owe your company a great thank you. Within just a few hours of arriving in Russia, we made our way to Red Square. Within minutes one of our group, lost their passport. The next day your company called and told me that someone had found the passport and had called your company. I really appreciate your help and the extra trouble to help get this passport back to us. We visited Moscow briefly and then went to St. Petersburg. We really enjoyed St. Petersburg.
I will be glad to recommend your company.

Let me know how I can help.

Alfred Paul Franks, USA

Hi there, please accept my gratitude for providing me with visa invitation so quickly. I really enjoyed my travel to Russia and it was possible for your superb service. I'll definitely use your service in future. Thank you.

Mohammad Nazmul Ahsan, Australia

Dear Galina,

Our students and Dr. Kourova came back to the States with unforgettable memories about the trip to St.
Petersburg! It was the highlight of our trip to Russia!
We would like to say thank you for all your great work of putting the program together and for the
outstanding guide Elena Kartseva who made our trip even more incredible than anyone could expect!
On behalf of the University of Central Florida, we appreciate your great job and looking forward to
working with you again!

Paolo Giordano, University of Central Florida, USA

Dear Galina,
I want to thank the organizers of the Moscow to St. Petersberg boat trip. We enjoyed every moment.
The crew, group leaders, and the waiters on S.B. Nickolai Chernyshevsky were first class. The inclusive tours and activities were super, including the pianist and folklore group. The accomodation and facilities were very good and the food outstanding.
Had a truly memorable holiday
Thanking you,

Brian and Jean, UK

Express Russia is a professional company that I would recommend to tourists visit the country. Helpful.

Warren de France, New Zealand

We thoroughly enjoyed our walking tour of the Old Arabat area and our visit to the Novodevinchy Convent. Your guides were professional, very knowledgeable and so welcoming. You provided a wonderful service.

Mary Mulier, USA

Thank you for organising a wonderful trip to Russia for me.

All the staff at Express to Russia looked after every aspect of my trip wonderfully.

I was met at Domodedevo Airport by one of your drivers after a 22 hour flight from Melbourne, Australia and taken to my hotel just as you promised.

The hotel I stayed in in Moscow, the Ulanskaya was in a good location close to the Metro and not far from Red Square and it was moderately priced by Moscow standards.

I really enjoyed the river cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg on board the MV Litvinov. All the staff on the boat looked after us very well and I enjoyed seeing the Russian countryside and something of village life in Russia.

My stay in St Petersburg was wonderful and now St Petersburg is one of my favourite cities. The Hotel I stayed in, the Northern Lights was very reasonably priced and my room was spacious and airy. The only inconvenience was that it was two storeys up with no elevator but with friendly staff and pleasant surrounds, I wasn't complaining.

Since I've been back in Australia, I've been missing Russia and all things Russian.

I hope to be able to book another trip to Russia through your organisation soon.

Peter Brennan, Australia

Thank you Asya and Galina for arranging our St Petersburg break. Our tour was fantastic and our tour guide Viktor was excellent. We learned so much about this beautiful city in the short time we were there. Also, thank you to Galina for arranging our ballet tickets. We had a great night out.

Cathy Ellis, Australia

Thanks to Asya at Express to Russia, our recent trip to St. Petersburg and Moscow couldn't have gone smoother. While we did most sightseeing on our own, we did book an excursion to Novgorod. This was "the way" to see some Russian countryside as we know only a few Russian words, and Arkady, the guide, was both helpful and knowledgeable. Hopefully, Asya will help us in several years book our trip on the Trans-Siberian Express!

Karen Raack Herreid, USA

We just returned from a Russian river cruise we booked through this company. It was a wonderful trip and Asya did a wonderful job of taking care of all the arrangements for us. The driver that picked us up at the bus station in St. Petersburg was there and waiting for us with our name on a sign. The one who took us to the airport after the cruise was very nice and helpful and a delight to talk to.
We would recommend this company for sure.

Ann Autrey Fama, USA

Thank you for organising my recent train tickets from St Petersburg to Moscow. I was having so many problems before your site was recommended to me by a St Petersburg guide. Everything from that point was easy and well organised. All of the paperwork was explained really well also. Good luck. X

Lee-Anne Smith, Australia

I was amazed at how smoothly the Lev Tolstoy cut through the still water, so that all I heard through my open window were the birds chatting it up. This was about as dark as it ever got while on board - most nights, the sunsets were followed pretty quickly by sunrises. I'll have one of my sunset photos posted - then you can see why it was worth staying up past midnight to watch them! :-)

Daniel Harris, USA

Dear Dasha, I am very glad to put in a good word for your excellent tour company. You handled all the tour arrangements so well. Compliments also to Dasha the tour guide & Dmitri the driver. The tours to the museums, city & palaces were really well explained and interesting. We were so happy not to stand in the long lines. Our driver drove efficiently and safely. We will have only compliments if anyone asks us about your tour company. Russia is beautiful and we have a great appreciation of your history, art and people. Best regards,

Laurine, USA

Dear Asya,
We woul like to thank you too. Our train trip from St. Petersburg to Moscow was a total success. The train is excellent and was a wonderful experience spending a night on these historical rails.
Your country is fascinating and we had a great time there. It was a privilege to go to places that played such important role on the History of the 20th Century! I wish we had more time to visit other cities and historical places.
Yes we will reccomend Express to Russia to everyone and will give all the positive exposure we can on the Internet.
Spasibo!

Josй A Fernandes, Brazil

The trip was great! Our driver was superb and both our guides were first class. We will recommend your company to our friends.

Thank you for your help in setting up our trip.

Donald Smith, USA

Alyona and Asya,

Anyway, I just wanted you both to know that all four Driskills had a wonderful time both in Russia and Mongolia. Everything went just perfectly with the Train # 4 two compartments in 1st class, wonderfully clean and with two ladies assigned to each coach, they kept it clean and immaculate. Also the dining car was wonderful, we ate breakfast and dinner there every day plus we were able to purchase snacks at the short stops along the way. AND scenery was tremendous. Oh what a wonderful trip. Recommend that you strongly suggest your guest stay at the Moscow Hilton due to ease of access to the train evening of departure. Check out at mid-day, store luggage at hotel, come back late and walk across the street to the train station. Everything worked exactly as you outlined it. Most highly recommend to all and I have a ton of small pointers that you can’t get out of a book if anyone ever wants specifics.

In Mongolia, everything was perfect. The guide and driver were there at 0630am to meet us when our train pulled into UB. Took us to hotel, checked in at 7am, bath, breakfast and off on tour of UB at 9am. We never slowed down. The Michelle was clean nice hotel and met our needs. Nothing fancy, but plenty of hot water for shower (that’s important). The Blue Sky looked really cool, but not sure it would be worth another $100 per person to stay there. If could get it for less would be worth it, maybe co should explore contact. Anyway, we loved staying in the Ger Camps. All three of them were tremendous and our big fear was diffused each time because the all had very nice Western Style toilets. Super fun riding horses and maybe you should consider adding in a camel ride, we did that too and it was a treat. Loved seeing all the temples, but best of all was the guide and driver. They took care of everything including staying with us at the airport until we had to go to gate. Also, really did need a heavy duty SUV and that’s what they used. We did a lot of off country and rough roads. Had it been rainy season, could not have made it without an SUV such as you all provided. We were fortunate to only have one day of rain and our competent driver never got us stuck. Mongolia has scenery unmatched any were and we have been almost everywhere so are comfortable making the statement. What a blast. Is a perfect private tour for four or five, Ok for family with younger kids or OK for adult singles traveling together. Safe, comfortable, informative, close to nature and recommended to all.

Bless you all’s heart.

Thomas Driskill, USA

Hi,
I would like to say a BIG thank you for your help with the cruise/accommodation for my two travellers. They have returned and told me that everything was excellent - they loved their cruise and found the arrangements and assistance they got there to be fantastic - very efficient and helpful staff - they loved every moment of it.
I really do appreciate all the help you gave me.
Kind regards

Lynette, South Africa

Hello Asya

I must apoligize for not contacting you sooner about our trip. I do not have a facebook account, but I wanted you to know that you and your company did an excellent job at arranging every aspect of our tour and stay in St. Petersburg as well as the arrangements of the driver to and from the apartment and the apartment itself in Moscow. Everyone that had their job to do, did it in a timely manner and got us to our destinations in plenty of time. This was the first time that I had ever booked a trip where it was just the two of us and I have to admit that I was a little concerned that it would all come together. Well, it did and I really have you to thank for making it a very enjoyable trip. Our driver, Eugene, and our guide, Olga, in St Petersburg were great. She had such a wonderful knowledge about everything we saw and was so pleasant to have with us the entire week. Eugene was always at our hotel waiting for us when we came out the door--even when we had to leave for the airport at 4:30 in the morning. Thank you again.

Jean, USA

Thank you for organizing our trip.
Everything was perfect - guides, drivers, hotels , trains. We even had perfect weather
Moscow and St Petersburg were very busy and crowded - tourism is very popular .
We would definitely recommend you to anyone.
Regards

Bob and Judy Allan, Canada

Hello Dasha,

I want to thank you personally for your help in making our stay in St.Petersburg a thorough success. We had a marvelous time and you and your agency should be recommended for smoothing the way for visitors to Russia. Having our own personal guides and driver certainly eased the way into the various museums and castles and shortened the waiting times there considerably. The most difficult parts of our trip were before and after our actual stay since getting the visas and the chaotic conditions at the airport when we left were somewhat nerve wracking.
We will certainly recommend you and your agency to our friends and acquaintances if they are planning a trip to Russia. Thanks again

Cornelia Brandt, Canada

Dear Asya,

Thank you for a wonderful trip. It was well organized and your company did a good job. I don't think we will be getting into that area again, at least for quite some time, but I will definitely recommend you to my friends who might be interested.

Thank you and good luck with your company.

Helle Kiiss, USA

Thank you for your cooperation.
I was in time for a letter of invitation receipt, application safely yesterday.
I thank you very much.

Katsuyuki &Ayako, Japan

Dear Ekaterina,

Thank you for the extremely fast dispatch of the above-mentioned tourist voucher. You and Olga, the lady I spoke with earlier, provided an excellent service!

With best regards

Carl Lauer, Netherlands

It is very close to the center, the apartment is very big

Mirco Mioni, Italy

Asya,
Our experience with Express to Russia was very good. Our travel was worry free and very comfortable. I would gladly recommend Express to Russia to others.
Thank you,

Penne Duncan, USA

We had a FABULOUS time in St. Petersburg!! Our driver, Sasha, and guide, Anna, made everything so easy. And Anna has an amazing amount of knowledge in her head - she was the BEST guide ever! We hope to come back next year and see the things we missed this time, and we will book through you again. Your service is excellent! Dasha was so good about taking care of all of the details before our trip, and all of the arrangements she made for us worked out perfectly. A great big THANK YOU to all of you!!

We really enjoyed the Hotel Kristoff. We weren't sure what to expect from a B&B (it means something quite different in the US) and we were delighted to find a comfortable room (loved the up-to-date bathroom!) within a charming hotel. The breakfast was EXCELLENT. Also, the staff were really friendly and spoke good English. One dark-haired woman was expecially helpful (I wish I had noted her name.) She even researched what kind of flower I had bought in a bouquet.! Super-duper service!

Helen Lofstrom, USA

Dear Dasha and management of Express to Russia,

I came back from my first Russia trip, and all I have been thinking is when I will
contact you again for the next trip.

I had such a great experience with all your services from beginning to the end.
Dasha's email response in order to proceed this trip was very quick and informative.
Over ten different tour companies, I decided to ask Dasha to arrange my trip.
She arranged exactly what I desired.

My English and Russian speaking guide, Anna Mazenkova, was much more
special than I expected. She educated me and taught me many different things
about cathedrals, history, culture and all the beautiful places.
Normally tour guides I know just show us around and have an easy time.
But Anna's explanation about building and guide changed the way I see Russia
and people. I want to request her again.

My driver, Anatoli, waited for me at St Petersburg airport and he did not speak
English but I felt very safe and secure having him as my driver.
In fact my personal visit to Kirov Ballet performance and Mariinsky theatre
I asked Dasha to have him drive. Price was not important.
I thought he is very responsible, kind and well mannered.
I like he was waiting for me and Anna at each exit on time.

I am planning to go back soon again.

Thank you so much for making my trip very meaningful and enjoyable.

Mint, USA

I received my Business Visa today and would like to Thank You
and your Company VERY much for your good,clear and fast service.
If I Need you again in the future I will defenately use You again and
also I will recommend your company to other Business people that
need to travel to Russia.
Thanks again and Many Good wishes from Sunny Australia,

Bolshoye Spasiba

Chandra F Buffart, Australia

Dear Asya

We both enjoyed our trip to Russia and have been so impressed by your service and attention that we have recommended you to some UK friends, if they decide to go on the Moscow - St Petersburg cruise.

Thanks again.

Barry and Lorraine, Australia

Asya-

We had a wonderful time. Our guide and driver were great. St. Petersburg was vibrant, interesting and hospitable.
We come away with so many good memories.
We will spread the word that Express to Russia is a good way to see Russia.

James Holt, Canada

Dear Asya, thank you for your e mail.
I did enjoy my stay in Moscow and I hope to return to Russia next year, rest assured that I will use your services at this time.

Regards

Steve Nelson, UK

Dear Asya

All 19 of us had a WONDERFUL time in Russia. The cruise was incredible - we all felt that it exceeded our expectations by miles. The boat was very comfortable, we hardly knew we were moving, the food was excellent, the staff all very friendly, and the boat very clean. The entertainment and excursions were good with nice guides and we really could not find fault with anything. It was also very good value for money.

Thank you for your help with co-ordinating our wonderful holiday. We are telling all our friends and I am sure more people will be booking soon through you.

Thank you for everything

Janet Marchand, UK

Hi Asya:

We have returned home safely after enjoying our visit to Moscow.

You and your counter part in Moscow, Ms. Yulia had done tremendous job of organizing the trip. The pickup at airport, the hotel, sightseeing's in Moscow and transfer back to airport for return - all were very well planned and executed . Everything were on time.

The tour guides - Elena and Alla were absolutely fantastic. Their command on English was very fluent and easy to understand. We really enjoyed their caring mannerism and knowledge while they were with us.

Thanks as Moscow will remain as a very positive experience with us. We will be very glad to recommend your company to our friends for future needs.

- Tushar Mehta

Tushar Mehta, USA

Hi

Many thanks for booking our train tickets from Riga to St Petersburg and sending us the visa invitations. Our trip went very well and we had a great time in your marvelous city.

I posted my comments on your Facebook site.

Best,

Pierre-Yves Bely, France

Asya,

Thanks for the message. I had an excellent and problem free short
trip and would like to thank you and your colleagues for providing
excellent service. I surely intend to use your service in the
future.

Thanks and regards

Volodya, Switzerland

Dear Asya

I am writing this mail to thank you and your company to have taken care of our VIP guest.He personally called to thank me for making his holiday a wonderful experience.

Regards

Ravi Sethia, India

Dear Asya,

Our trip to Saint Petersburg exceeded my every expectation! We were promptly met at the airport by Vladmir and taken to our hotel. The hotel was extremely well located, just 2 blocks to The Hermitage. The room was clean, beds comfortable and the bath had every amenity, with a great shower. The hotel staff were helpful and there was always someone on duty who spoke English.

Our tour guide, Maria, was beyond great. She gave a detailed history of each site, allowing us the needed time to absorb all we saw. Maria's explanation of Russian culture, and the events of the last 20 years in Russia, gave us a perspective we lack, having been educated in the United States. To call this a "vacation" is a misnomer, it was an educational experience.

Express to Russia did an excellent job of arranging an itinerary that met our interests. Every request was promptly met, communications were very timely. Not enough can be said about Maria and Vladmir, they were perfect guide, teacher and driver.

I recommend Express to Russia without reservation. I hope to return to Russia, and will certainly use your services. Thank you.

David Miller, USA

Dear Asya

Very many thanks for this email. I have just returned from an excellent 3 week stay in Russia and China (the Trans-Sib got me to Beijing) and want to sincerely thank you for handling the visa invitations and train tickets. You were patient in answering my many questions and your website was handy as I got some ideas of things to take/do on the train. As a result, the train trip was a real highlight of my journey and something I will cherish for many years.

I will be sure to recommend your site to other travellers and wish you and your company all of the best for the future!

Kind Regards
Hugh

Hugh Freese, South Africa

Dear Paul and Anna,

I would like to thank you for the excellent accommodations and service. The information on the website and efficient email communication allowed making the right choice and facilitated the travel arrangements. My friends and I enjoyed very much staying in a clean and spacious apartment in the heart of St.-Petersburg, two steps away from the major attractions, and at a fraction of the cost of the nearby hotels. I am very glad to have chosen your business, I will use it again, and I will certainly recommend it to anyone I know. Please, keep up with the good work.
Best regards,

Alexander Salenikovich, Quebec

Dear Liza,

Sorry it has taken me so long to send this to you.

I just wanted to thank you again for organising our tour. Everything ran very smoothly, everyone was on time and we enjoyed every second of it. You have a beautiful country.

I would like to specifically commend our guides, Lina and Maria. They were both wonderful and their intelligence amazed me. They went out of their way to help us and made it their business to make sure we were happy with the daily schedules. They are great assets to the Express to Russia company. I would also like to mention our driver in St Petersburg (I can't remember his name). He was a very kind man and another great asset to the company.

Thank you again. We will definitely recommend your company to others.

Kind regards,

Rachel Stauffer, Australia

Thanks for your great help each time i am travelling to Russia...keep up your very excellent promt work. I found your online service very cheap and easy to get my invitation done every time!

Clare Muscat Said, Malta

Just returned from a fanstastic and rich experience in moscow, the Golden cities and St. Petersbrg. We felt taken care of as if we were royalty! our guides were extremely knowledgable and so we learned so much and gained such an appciation for the people, the struggles and the country. Witout the guide and driver, we would have just appreciated the architecture but learned nothing. You helped at every turn - this could not have been a better experience and we cannot thank you enough.

Marna & Keith McLendon, USA

Thank you Dasha,

I had an excellent trip to Russia and the assistance & documentation which 'Express to Russia' provided was efficient and accurate. I will indeed become a fan on Facebook and I look forward to using your services in the future.

Best Regards,

Joel Beaumont, UK

The Express to Russia Service was fantastic and very efficient. I was traveling to Russia from India and they made it super easy to get all the required documents. More so it was very reasonably priced. I would strongly suggest people use this service to go to Russia.

Ryan Valles, India

Hi Asya

Jenn and I are back from our amazing trip, and wanted to pass on our thanks to you and the team for your wonderful powers of organisation and planning.
Everything was brilliant!

Thanks so much

Kate van Dooren, Australia

Hi Elena,

I would like to thank you for the excellent services your travel agent did for us. We enjoyed every minute of our visit to St. Petersburg. We are so impressed by your team and I already recommended your travel agent to my brother in law who is working in Moscow. He himself is so amazed with the services your team had done for us.

I would personally recommend the hard work of Asya, Maria and Victor. Asya was so detailed with our itinerary, very knowledgable with her work, Maria is so well versed with her job, amazing woman and Victor is so kind, a very caring person. They make sure we are fine, took good care of us from the beginning until Victor make sure we are safe at the train station. You truly have an excellent team.

Unfortunately, I have no facebook and will not be able to post my travel experiences. But you can post this email in your facebook.

More power to your company.

Take care and please give my regards to Asya, Maria and Victor.

Again, thank you so much.

Marie Beyer

Marie Beyer, USA

Dear Elena,

All our tickets were perfect and the information provided by your company is the best we have found from any Russian ticket company in the last 10 years. I shall certainly be using your service again.

I will be writing personally to Alyona Gerun to thank her, but I’d like you to know that she couldn’t have been more helpful in organising our tickets and she was always quick to answer e-mails and provide information and support.

Best wishes,

Henry Drake, UK

Visa invitation with out a problem, thx

Laurent Thinnes, Luxembourg

Elena,

We had a great time in Russia and I took some great photos. Thank you again for the great tours!

Barbara Hyde, USA

Dear Elena,
City Realty was very efficient in organizing the rental of my appartment and in providing invitations required ro obtain visa. The transportation, with driver Viktor, was also very reliable. Real City is a partner who can be trusted entirely

Erwin Schaer, Switzerland

Dear Elena

I would like to thank City Realty for its reliability, attention to detail and integrity throughout the time I had dealings with the firm.

The apartment (Fontanka Deluxe A) was nothing short of amazing! We were blown away by its size, as we expected something about half the size! We also expected that we would have to visit the supermarket on arrival to purchase soap, washing powder etc, but were very pleasantly surprised to discover that it was all provided for us. Having 3 bathrooms between four of us was a real bonus and allowed us to spend more time exploring the city!

We opted to accept your advice re transfers, and could not have been happier with the decision. Our drivers were on time, friendly, reliable and trustworthy. They also saved us a lot of time.

If we return to St Petersburg, we will not hesitate to book the same apartment, and have already recommended it to friends who plan to visit the city in 2012.

Best wishes

Helen and Robert Robertson, Australia

Hi Elena,

My wife, friends and I were very pleased with the service that you offered and everything went very smoothly – first class. We would definately use you again.

Good luck with your business,

Paul Swindell, UK

Dear Sirs,
I would like to add my ExpresstoRussia review to the long list of commentaries from satisfied customers on your web site. The services I used included hotel reservations, obtaining visa invitation, transfers from and to the airport (SVO), two custom 11 hour day tours to suburban areas north and west of Moscow and a 4 hour city tour in Moscow.

My guide and driver for these trips were Lena and Rashid, respectively, who were very knowledgeable on Russian history, geography and roads. Since my objective was to visit first hand many of the sites of the October-December, 1941 battle of Moscow as would be done with a typical military history travel company, none of which were available over three years of searching the internet which could do an adequate job as described.

The two day tours included visits to: Krasnaya Polyana, Lobnya, Belyy Rast, Yakhroma, Peremilovo, Dmitrov, Rogachevo, Klin, Solnechnogorsk, Zelenograd and Khimki the first day (350 km) and Zhukovka, Perkhushkova, Odintsovo, Golitsyno, Petrishchevo, Mozhaysk, Borodino, Zvenigorod, Istra, Istra Reservoir and Snegiri (Lenino) the second day (another 350 km). The half day in Moscow was a more typical excursion to the usual tourist spots.

I highly recommend your services including the office contacts Liza and Yulia who helped in setting up my itinerary. While the total package may not be inexpensive, your organization has the routine down to a science so newcomers can leave it all to you.
Best regards,

Terry D. Wilson, USA

Hello Madam,

Thanks to you, we had a very pleasant stay in Moscow. Everything was great: your quick answers at our questions, the nice and well furnished apartment with a good situation. No surprise at all, everyone was on time (for the check in and check out).
I would really recommend your website to friends (I already did, as we are currently living in Russia and have a lot of friends in the same situation).
We appreciate spending a week end or a couple of days in Moscow or/and in St Petersbourg and will use again your Internet site for finding an accommodation!
Many thanks to City realty!

regards

Mr and Mrs VIATTE, France

Excellent visa service: super quick, efficient, friendly! And their invitations are accepted even with the more capricious Russian embassies. Can only recommend.

Wolfgang Sporrer, Austria

Dear Anastasia and Elena,

I so greatly appreciate you for all the arrangement's made by you and your team at cityrealty. My trip was indeed a memorable one and I had a wonderful time. To my surprise, the Old Arbat Theatre Suite apartment happened to be located at one of the most happening place and it added to my delight. I will be looking forward to using your services for my next visit to Russia.
The attached photograph is of me and my brother at the Red Square.

Many thanks to City Realty.

Regards,

Ravinder Singh, India

We had a very pleasant stay. I have used your service several times in St Pete and Moscow, and will continue to do so. I live in Moscow and sometimes have visitors.

Alexander Higgs, Australia

The ONLY company to use for Russian Visa services such as invitations. I have used them several times and they are extremely fast and accommodating especially if changes are needed.

Brian V Simblist, USA

Elena,

Thank you so much for providing me with the necessary help for my trip to Moscow.
My trip was fantastic. I would say this was the best trip ever to Russia.
The Hotel Bega was FANTASTIC! I loved that hotel. The service was excellent as well as the accommodation. I had a fantastic time and the service provided by City Realty was excellent, as always. I was sad to leave Moscow but shall return soon and will be again seeking services from City Realty! I hope to go back in the early or late summer.

Thank you!

Kathryn Chacon, USA

Thank you very much. It was one of the best trips in our life. Everything was excellent!

Dasa Kopcakova, Slovak Republic

Dear Elena,

Now we’ve all returned safely from the Russian tour. We have had a very nice trip in Russia; and we like to thank you for a very good and professional job in handling our events. All the arrangements went off smoothly without a hitch. Our guides and drivers came to the pick-up points on time. And all the guides were very knowledgeable as well as able to speak very good English.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you and all the people involved in helping us to have a very enjoyable trip. I certainly will highly recommend your agency to our friends if they want to travel to Russia.

Thanks and Best Regards,

KML & BAL, China

Liza, thank you for all your help; the trip was fine. Only problem was lack of money changing facilities on boat; this was a problem we had not expected. All transfers worked well; boat staff and coordinators very good. Especially liked our coordinator Nastija, and Anna at the front desk. Sorry we didn't get chance to meet you in St. Petersburg. Melody is a good, reasonably priced hotel in quiet location. See comments above.

George Gardiner, USA

Great service from Express Russia for my last trip, made the whole visa business much easier.

Phil Price, UK

I just wanted to write and thank your company for the wonderful service I enjoyed during my recent trip to Russia. Everything planned and prepared by Express to Russia and my contact there Elena was perfect, and we enjoyed the hotels (Northern Lights in Petersburg especially), the drivers and the tours. All the drivers were on time, courteous and efficient, and we greatly enjoyed all three of our tour guides in Moscow, Petersburg and Novgorod.

We only had one missed connection, one of the drivers from Domodedovo to our hotel had a car break down, and I very much appreciate Elena’s attention to the matter and the refund processed on my credit card to pay for the taxi –

I will be happy to use your company again on a future trip and to recommend your services to anyone planning a trip to Russia!

Sincerely,

Clay O’Dell, USA

Hi Liza,

Pam and I are now travelling to Hong Kong.

We were disappointed that we could not meet you while we were in St Petersburg - it was the week end and your office was closed.
I wanted to thank you personally for your great service with doing all the booking arrangements and then making the last minute change to our transfer to the hotel in St. Petersburg.

Our visit to Moscow and St. Petersburg were sensational. The river cruise was equally stunning and we enjoyed the total experience.
The tour guides at all the tour opportunities were just great. They knew the history, were very helpful and friendly and made the tour experience a very enjoyable one.
Your selection and recommendation of the M Hotel was great. The location was perfect, the facilities and cleanliness of the room great and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

We will be delighted to recommend your services.
Pam and I had the greatest time with our whole journey and everything was completely trouble free.
Many thanks once again.

Kind Regards,

Alex Priadko, Australia

Dear Liza,

I would like to thank you for the unforgettable tour in St Petersburg we had on 7th and 8th of May. It was so much pleasure and all of us are satisfied with the itinerary and service you've provided.

Best regards,

Satria Utama, Indonesia

Dear Liza,

Lena, our guide in Moscow was excellent. She was very knowledgable and could answer any question we had for her. We liked that she could pick up on our interests and take us places we might not have thought of to go. When we realized that one of the places we had chosen to see would probably not be that interesting to us, she was able to arrange entry to the Diamond Fund and the Armoury for us. Riding the Metro with Lena was a real adventure and a lot of fun. In Saint Petersburg we found Anna well versed in the history of the Tsars and in the Hermitage collection. Arkady in Veliky Novgorod was a very good guide and answered all of our questions with ease. Novgorod was perhaps a long way to go for a day trip, but we did enjoy it. Vasily was a great driver to have and kept us safe with good humour and skill. We enjoyed ourselves so much, my daughter says she is already planning to return. We would both have no hesistation to recommend ExpresstoRussia to anyone we know.

Vivian Lewis, Canada

Dear Yulia,

I wanted to let you know that the tour today was great; St Petersburg is beautiful and both Marina and Vladimir are first class.

Moscow is great; the guides very knowledgeable and the drivers punctual.

Roberto Carrillo, Mexico

My dear Liza,

ALL the arrangements made by you were super and Kersi and I are very grateful to you. The cruise was superbly organized and I have been recommending it to all my Indian friends since my return.
Thanks again for ALL the support you gave me, for the last 4 months.

I just wanted to let you know how happy my husband and I were with your arrangement of our Russian river cruise. Your professionalism and reliability were very much appreciated. You were always there to answer my questions and help me plan our trip. When, at the last minute, we wanted to change our Gold Room tour to the Peterhof, you quickly made that adjustment without any problem whatsoever.

I will happily recommend you and your agency to any of our friends who want to visit Russia. Please forward this email to the person in charge of your agency, so he or she will know what a wonderful representative you are for the Russian travel industry.
Best wishes and much success,

Donna and William Bryce, USA

Dear Liza,

Thanks for the great services during the tours in Moscow and St Petersburg, everything was great, transportation confortable and on time, guides and hotels of gret quality. Special thanks to Lena our guide in Moscow and Kate our guide in St. Petersburg for let in us know so much our your great country.

Jose Rafael Luna Lopez, Colombia

Hi Yulia,

Ii just want to take a few min to say thanks for the great service. Everything was excellent, the city was so beautiful. I really enjoy it the whole tour.

Sorry that I just send you this massages but I just came back from Spain.

Thanks once again,

Alfredo Guizarnotegui-Llamas, USA

Hi Liza,

I must say thank you for your great organising of such a wonderful trip. I can not stop recommending your company to all that I come across. Others in my group on the cruise also shared how great the communication was with Express to Russia and I am grateful that I booked through your company. The experience has been a good one.

Many thanks,

Karen Taiatu, UK

Dear Liza,

We would like to thank the two travel guides we had on our recent trips in and around Moscow, they were very informative and knowledgeable and answered any of our questions which we asked them.

Yours sincerely,

David Collins, UK

Dear Liza,

The entire tour was perfect, you did an excellent job.
And we thank you.

Will keep you and your company in mind whenever a Russian trip is requested.

Best regards,

Rudolf Shmueli, Israel

Hello Liza,

We just want to tell you that we enjoyed our trip to Russia very much.
We also want to thank you for all the arrangements you have made for us. Everything went very smooth and boat, hotel and transfers worked in perfection.

All the best and regards,

Trudy Marggi, Switzerland

Dear Elena,

I want to express to you my sincere gratitude for so expeditiously delivering my suit coats to St. Petersburg. Your efficient handling of my tour to Russia was outstanding. Lena was an exceptionally fine guide and a most interesting person to boot. I was mightily impressed with the fluency in English that both guides possessed. I fell in love with Moscow and St. Petersburg. I hope that my fellow-New Jerseyian owner of your company knows what an outstanding job the team of five people who helped me supplied.

Sincerely,

James Kuehl, USA

Dear Elena,

Well. we've completed our trip and are back home for a couple of days. Just wanted to drop you a line and thank you for all your help in arranging our trip to St Petersburg.

All of our connections clicked great, the hotel was comfortable, quiet ,and nicely located, and the staff was very helpful. Our guide, Anna, was terrific and helped us to appreciate the various sites that we explored with her and on our own. Your city is lovely and very interesting. Thanks also to our drivers Yuri and Michael.

We had a great time on our trip to St. Petersburg and will always remember it. We hope to come again some day. Our best to you and the staff of Express to Russia.

Thanks Again,

Marty and Caroline McGuire, USA

Dear Elena

Many thanks for a most enjoyable and memorable Golden Ring tour in July.

Everything was just as you planned for us, from the train station pick-up to the drop-off for departure at Moscow airport.

The midnight train to Moscow was very comfortable, somebody was running up to the lady guard with the list of names even as you spoke to Lynda on the mobile.

Please extend our thanks to the guide Erina and the careful driver Alexis - we enjoyed every place (including the food) on the itinerary listening to their rich history as explained by Erina. She did a great job we were blessed to have her as our guide.

I am recommending this tour to all my friends in Canberra.

Best wishes

Sharon, Australia

Hi Elena,

Our visit to St. Petersburg was very enjoyable and I wish to thank you for
the effort you have put in to make it so. Everything worked out just fine,
and the three ladies, Tatjana, Veronika, and Marina who were our guides,
each did an excellent job.

The weather, of course, was absolutely perfect. I think we experienced the
city at its very best.

That you were able to provide such excellent service at very short notice is
quite remarkable. We have no hesitation at all to recommend your agency to
our friends.

Thank you again and good bye.

Klaus Zirkel, Germany

Hi Elena,

I just wanted to say an official thank you for an amazing trip. We really had a great experience and were very impressed by the very high professional standards of our tour: the punctuality, level of knowledge and just general pleasantness were impressive, so thank you again for facilitating such a great trip.

Best,

A group of friends from the USA

Dear Elena,

We have now returned from the Russian River Cruise, that you have organized for us. You and your staff have made everything very easy for us, to do the booking and the transfers.
Our ship, MS Maxim Litvinov, and the ships crew was excellent, very friendly and the whole ship had a warm ambient, created by the crew.
All ports visited by us, and the river Volga, have left a deep impression
on us. I can not single out any one, because there where all magnificient.

Again, the ship and its crew, who are our friends now, and the beauty of Russia will remain in our memory for ever.

Spa'siba - Da svidanja .

Best regards,

Two Happy Australians

Hello Elena,

Arrived back in the States the other day & wanted to take this moment to thank you again for a wonderful tour through the Golden Ring, arranging our train tickets & helping Dianne & I with countless issues regarding our Visas & hotels. Our tour was flawless & both Dianne & I were extremely delighted with Vera our guide & Sasha our driver. Vera was personable & quite knowledgeable with area and went above & beyond to fit in extra visits to various monasteries & convents that were not in our itinerary. Our local guides were equally knowledgeable & a pleasure to have in addition to Vera. Sasha was a careful & cautious driver & always had our safety in mind. I'd gladly recommend you & your agency to any of my friends & family who travel to Russia in the future. Hoping your summer is an enjoyable one. Many thanks!

Best Regards,

Karen Prusakiewicz, USA

Thanks for all your help. We´re very pleased with the service your firm has provided and will revert to you when we next have a requirement.

Simon Waldron, UK

Dear Nastya, I just got all tickets by FedEx. Thank you so much. Perfect service.

Tatiana Bendioukova, Russia

Dear Nastya,
I finally have the time to send you this message to thank you for everything.
Everything has worked out well: getting the tickets in Moscow, the train, the trip ; and everything was exactly how you said it, especially regarding the two-berth cabins.
The trip was great and memorable, crossing the borders was an interesting experience, and arriving in Beijing was overwhelming.
Thank you for having answered all our questions very quickly, with enormous patience and precision.
If anybody asks us about how to get tickets for the Transsiberian or any other train in Russia, I will give them your name.

Patrick Leitner, Austria

Dear Nastya, Thank you for making the process simple. It will make our trip much more enjoyable!

Tosha Kranz, USA

Dear Elena,

We have finally “recuperated” from the 13-day Moscow-to-St Petersburg excursion that you arranged for us on cruise-ship Nikolai Chernichevsky, which we followed up with a seven day extension in St Petersburg and Helsinki.

The quality of the services we received from City Realty (or CR Tours, or TravExpress, but in fact personally yourself) in planning this trip was a wonderful blend of professionalism and warm personal attention. The advice you gave us was always clear and well thought out, the transportation arrangements worked impeccably (Aleksandr in St Petersburg was extremely helpful), the M-hotel which you recommended in St Petersburg was very comfortable and conveniently located, and the manner in which you interceded on our behalf with the cruise-ship company on the two occasions when we needed exceptions from their policy was admirable. The many superlatives I used above reflect exactly the way we feel – we will enthusiastically recommend you to any of our friends who need the services of a travel agent in Russia.

For what it was – a moderately priced, non-luxury, no-frills affair – the cruise itself was eminently satisfactory. Our cabin (comfortable because oversize – thanks to your intercession) was serviced impeccably. The reception staff (Anna and Marina) and the cruise director Artem were very attentive and helpful (especially when I needed some medical attention – and the Doctor on board was good to have). The food was very tasty, varied and well-prepared, and was served beautifully by the lovely Irina who was permanently assigned (a very lovely touch) to our table, and who (along with the entire kitchen staff) caringly tended to my special dietary needs when I developed that medical problem. Even though we came aboard as individual passengers rather than with a large group chaperoned by a travel agency, we were looked after by an excellent boat guide, Anna Yuvkina, often aided and abetted by Zoya; both were personable, conscientious and diligent and responded to all our needs. They also entertainingly taught us the smattering of Russian that we learned on board.

Special credit goes for the organization of the city and shore excursions – starting with the transportation (even when it was hampered by the interminable traffic snarls in Moscow and St Petersburg) and ending with the high quality of the local guides, who were well-trained, very knowledgeable, entertaining and spoke beautiful English. It was lovely to watch them work in collaboration with the boat-guides to shepherd their flock – I felt totally confident that I will never be lost in the course of the excursions.

The Moscow tour was what we expected – except emphasized by the poignant reminiscences of our guide of the life in the city before Perestroika, with which he entertained us during the interminable traffic jams. The highlight, though, was the night visit, where we were fortunate to be at the Kremlin at the windup of the rehearsals for the military orchestra competition – punctuated by 1812 overture and attendant fireworks.

The luscious serene shores of the waterway provided a welcome relaxing change from the bustle of the Moscow sightseeing. We were blessed with good weather most of the time, and the leisurely cruise was pleasantly punctuated by the brief shore visits to Uglich, quaint Goritsy with its icon-museum, expansive Yaroslavl with its churches and monuments and beautiful shore park, and the long walk and intricate wooden architecture of Kizhi. Mandrogi came closest to what I would term a tourist-trap, but a beautiful and interesting one nonetheless…

And at the end – a memorable stay in St Petersburg, starting with beautifully guided tours (by Marina) of the Peter and Paul Cathedral (with the touching mausoleum for the murdered last Tsar and his family), the Hermitage and Peterhoff… And. later, on or own, the Russian museum, the Michailovsky garden, walk around the Church of our Savior on the Spilled Blood, strolls along Nevsky Prospekt., shopping at the Gostiny Dvor; but culminating near the beginning with a glorious Gala concert conducted by Gergyev on the 150th birthday of the Mariinsky, and at the end with a visit to you in your office to thank you in person for helping arrange all the above for us…

I have a special place in my heart for St Petersburg – as a heartening monument to mankind’s ability to reverse the evil turns of the wheel of time. Originally built by a visionary Tsar to be a glorious monument to humanity (and to himself – so what? he deserved it), ignominiously hijacked to become Leningrad by the Communist revolution, tormented by the Nazi siege in WWII, with which I was made intimately familiar through the poignant stories of a Faculty colleague who survived that period, and who I fervently wish were still alive to see it now bouncing back to recover its old glory under its original name. I hope to return…

Joan and Shimshon Frankenthal
Ramat HaSharon, Israel, October 2010

Dear Elena,
We returned from our 2 weeks in Russia and Estonia a few days ago, and I wanted to thank you for persevering on our part for booking the extra-special rooms at the Kremlin and at the Hermitage.

The guides you provided as well as the drivers were superb and, in addition to being very knowledgeable, were very entertaining to spend time with!

I wanted especially to mention the guide who did our 7 hour day at the Kremlin. Elena Vinogradova was the perfect guide/teacher and new friend! She was not only patient, but very warm and welcoming. I had a leg problem at the last minute, and had to use a wheelchair for that particular day. She took it in stride and with the help of several of my friends, I was able to manage the many stairs, etc. inside the Kremlin. She also went above and beyond to help a friend of mine get information on an eye hospital/clinic which we eventually visited.

In St. Petersburg, we had 2 guides, Anatolii and Katya. I'm afraid that I did not get their last names, but they were both very informative and helpful. The driver in St. Petersburg was Vladimir, and I found that we had both worked for General Tours, but at different times.

All in all, we had a wonderful time with the people and services which you provided. I look forward to working with you again in 1-2 years when my friend, Peyton Neatrour, who was on this trip, brings his family to re-connect with relatives in Moscow.

Thank you again for a perfect trip.

Sincerely,

Joseph C. Schultz, USA

Nastya, I am back in the US now.
I just wanted to let you know that the deluxe train accommodations on the trip to St. Petersburg from Moscow were terrific. We had a great experience.
Thanks for your assistance.

Madeleine Johnson, USA

I am writing because I appreciate very much what Ms Nastya and Ms Irina from your company have done to help me during my first visit in Russia few weeks ago. I am a businessman from Hong Kong and that´s first time travelling in Europe from London to Moscow.
I was greatly impressed by your staffs´ helpful and polite manner especially when i found nobody on the street can speak English. They help me a lot on finding the booking info of the trans Siberian train ticket from Moscow to Beijing. Even if i didn´t buy the ticket finally, they also helped me to find the way to my hotel and the train to my next destination. What they have done shows that your company is a very professional travel agency. They deserves praise for what they have done.

It is your good service that help you set up a world reputation. For this reason, I am writing to express my heartfelt thanks and hope that your company will have a brighter future.

Iam Ken, HongKong

Dear Elena,

We came back from our cruise last week and stayed another week
in the UK, visiting family and friends. Yesterday we returned home in Brussels.
I am taking this opportunity to thank you for an excellent organisation of
our excursions in St.Petersburg and also many thanks to Maria and Victor
for showing us around .They did a sterling job !!!
I had heard a lot about St. Petersburg, but nothing can compare with actually
seeing it yourself and we could not have done a fraction of it without the help of
you and your team. What a magnificent city !!
ONCE AGAIN , thank you very much indeed.

The trip to St Petersburgh and Moscow was wonderful.
All of the guides were good especially the Lena´s in Moscow.
Michael was a good driver and everyone was on time.
We will certainly recommend your company to our clients.
Also the Ballet in St Petersburgh was wonderful.
The only negative thing was the cost of food in Moscow!
Thanks again

Nate Miller, Travel Consultant, USA

Dear Elena,
Just a little message to say that we had a lovely time in St Petersburg. It is a lovely city and I loved all the canals. Our guide- Rhoshanna? was very good as was Victor and Alexander- the drivers. It was very hot and I believe it still is, so I was glad to get back to the rain!
Thankyou very much,
Yours

Marion Holt, UK

Hi Elena

I can´t recommend your services enough. The guides and tour have been excellent. We particularly enjoyed the company of Rausan while in St Petersburg. She is an excellent guide as was Illya and Valentina. I think that Rausan is quite a special guide and has such a pleasant voice to listen to all day. Gladly I have captured her talent on video!!! We also appreciated the service of Andre and Anatole. Apologies for my english spelling of these names but as you know I cannot speak let alone type in Russian. I have been trying however and it has been fun. We have found Russia and its people wonderful and we would love to stay longer in St Petersburg. We were of course very glad to visit Moscow but it is certainly not as conducive to tourists as is St Petersburg. We found it difficult to find suitable restaurants and apart from Kremlin, red square and St Basils, the city highlights were not as interesting as St Petersburg. But of course you probably know this.

I must say that we are so very impressed with your service and and that of your guides and I will be sure to recommend you on tripadvisor.com. It is not so often that you cannot say how a service could be improved because I think that as a tour operator you are already excellent. I think that this was clear from our first contact because you were prompt in replies to my emails.

I am glad that you were our tour operator as everything was perfect. All staff were on time, spoke excellent english (which is soooo appreciated by non russian speakers) and were very knowledgable in their history (of course). Believe me that I can be very critical particularly as I have worked in hospitality extensively and have high expectations but you have definately met them. I hope you can understand clearly how impressed we are with your tour operation.

Kind regards

Jacqueline and Terry Anderson, Australia

Dear Elena

I just wanted to thank you for ensuring our holiday to Russia was a success. We had a wonderful time, the weather was perfect and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We have now safely returned home to Melbourne (and quite a cold wet winter) with wonderful memories of our holiday.

Thanks again.

Regards

Helen McNicol, Australia

Dear Elena:

Just wanted to let you know that My grandson Bruno and I couldn´t have been more pleased with our week in Moscow (6/15 - 6/21). We were absolutely enchanted with the whole experience, including getting lost a couple of times in the Metro during our free time.

Although both our guides (both Eleanas) were excellent, I would particularly commend the first one (she took us to the Tatiakov, the KGB tour, and to that beautiful cemetery where so many great Russian artists, authors, composers, musicians, militarists, and politicians are buried). Her knowledge is encyclopedic; and her understanding of today´s Russia as a product of its past was, for us, truly enlightening.

I will be taking another tour in Russia, with my wife, within the next two or three years. I will be in touch with you when the time comes. Meanwhile, I will refer you to other potential visitors to Russia as I meet them.

Sincerely with Best Wishes,

George Turner, USA

Dear Liza, Here am I back to Zürich.I would like to thank you for all the arrangements that made my trip to Russia possible. All guides and drivers were very kind and efficient, above all when I fell down and sprained my ankle. A clinic was quickly found and I coud be properly medicated. In Moscow we had a fantastic guide, who helped us to buy tickets for the Armory Chamber and the Diamond Fund. In spite of the smog, we had an unforgettable stay in Moscow. In the Golden Ring , we didn´t like the hotels because they had no air conditioning. New hotels were quickly found to our entire satisfaction. Many thanks to you and those who have attended upon us.
Yours sincerely,

Vitoria Cleaver, Brazil/Switzerland

Good morning Elena,

We are home and over jetlag. The cruise was awesome. We really enjoyed all of it. The weather wasn´t the best, but you take what you get. The staff aboard the ship was incredible. We had an excellent English ship guide and all the local guides spoke very good English. We enjoyed the tours off the ship. We felt that they could have been better arranged. We found that on some days the tours were all sitting and then the next day they were all walking. So we thought that they could have been split up ie: walking in the morning, sitting in the afternoon or reversed. I did mention that on the sheet they asked us to fill out. The meals were very good and the dining room staff were excellent. We had the same server all the time and we fell in love with her as well as our English guide. Most of the staff are University students.

Thank you for being ever so helpful when booking the tour and all our questions. We would not hesitate to recommend this tour to others.

Best regards,

Nancy and Dick Goertzen, Canada

Dear Elena,

I just want to inform you that we have completed our trip to Russia.

We really enjoyed the arrangement you have made for us, from the airport transfer, picking up our Bolshoi tickets, the hotel in Moscow, and of course the Golden Ring tour itself.
Our tour guide, Irina, provided us with a lot of information on the buildings and history, which make our following visits to Moscow+St. Petersburg more rewarding.

Thanks again for making our visit to Russia a wonderful one.

Best Regards,

Charles Kosan, Indonesia

Hi Elena:

I want to thank you for arranging my trip to St. Petersburg. I had a wonderful time. Your team was great. Olga was a very good tour guide who helped me a lot during my trip. The driver, Anatoly, was also wonderful. He showed me around St. Petersburg and I appreciate his kindness. Unfortunately, since I don´t speak Russian, I could not tell him how much I appreciated his help. Please let both of them know that I really appreciated their assistance.

Thanks to Express to Russia, I was able to visit your beautiful country.

Thank you again for everything,

Rhonda Daniels, USA

Hey Elena,

I just wanted to thank you so much for your work on my trip. I just got back to Cairo and I had a really great trip there in Russia. Really, it was great. Both guides were very professional and super knowledgeable and I learned so much about your terrific country. The hotels were both good and all connections were punctual to the minute, which, living in a country like Egypt came as such a nice surprise.

Matthew, USA/Egypt

Dear Liza,

back from Russia I would like to thank you for your help with our trip. We had some brilliant days in St. Petersburg and Moscow (fortunately we left Moscow before the smog of the fires came). The location of the two hotels was excellent, I will review the hotels online.

Best regards and thanks again

Jochen Siller, Germany

Dear Liza,

We are finally back in the Bahamas after a very enjoyable tour.

Thank you very much for the excellent arrangements you made for us in Russia.

Our first guide, Lin, the university professor, was excellent; and provided a grand introduction to the beauty, culture and people of Russia. She made our tour of Moscow revealing, educational and exciting. Please convey our special thanks to Lin.

The Golden Circle Tour introduced us to another aspect of Russia. Cultural, ethnic and religious features made us aware of the life in these smaller towns; and we were able to appreciaate the the Russian way of life, and the hardships and triumphs of the past years.

St. Petersburg was the highlight of our tour. The Hermitage, the palaces, the ambience, the great monuments and artistic masterpieces are never to be forgotten. They were outstanding and equal to or superior to others we have been fortunate to experience in our travels.

Vassily, our driver, in St Petersburg, got better and better each day. He became a great asset, and very accomidating. His suggestion of the Park Restaurant for lunch proved to be an excellent dining experience. We liked it so much that we returned for our farewell to Russia dinner on our last night. It was great!

Liza, It was very nice of you to arrange this tour for us. The little mishap with the wrong hotel in Suzdal was very professionally handeled, and made us appreciate Nikolaevsky Posad even more.

Many, many thanks. You did an excellent job.

Larry & Linda Davis, Bahamas

Dear Elena,

I just back in UK tonight.
Firstly, thank you very much for your organise to a FIT program for me this time.
On the coattails of you, a long-time dream came true to visit to Russia.

I am fully satisfied during stay in St. Petersburg despite miserable weather when I visited to Pushkin as my main event on 16th June.

I wish to back there again on day soon.

Many thanks,

Kentaro Hishinuma, Japan

Hello
My name is Margarita Ruchaevsky and we just return from our trip to Moscow and ST. Petersburg.
Elena Kachevskaya arranged this trip for us.
I would like to THANK Elena for the GREAT job she did. She made everything absolutely perfect- from our transportation, hotels, trips, even the weather.
Your tour guide in Moscow Elena Kyksheva was exceptional.

Thank you Elena for making our trip the most enjoyable. I´ll recommend your agency to all our friends and be happy to be used as reference if needed.

Marge Ruchaevsky, USA

Good Morning Liza...
As we pack up to leave St P and Russia today I want to say "thanks" to you from Susanne and I for all your excellent service and kindness. Russia has been a wonderful experience. The people are fantastic, expecially our guides - Lena Vinogradova in Moscow and Maria here in St P. We have learned so much and had a few laughs along the way. I hope they have not found us to be "difficult tourists". The accommodation is just what we were looking for - comfortable and simple in very good locations. Please pass on our thanks to your colleagues who helped make this trip so memorable for us. We have been talking about your service to our friends and we have no hesitation in recommending you personally and your company as excellent service providers for travel in Russia.
With very good wishes...

Roger and Susanne Clarke, Australia

Hi Elena, I am writing to thank you for all your assistance with the organisation of probably the best holiday we have ever had. We would also like to thank the guides and drivers in Moscow and St Petersburg for making our visit such a pleasure we will treasure the memories for years to come. We intend making sure that everyone we know is made aware of the options available for visiting your wonderful country. Will keep you in mind for our next visit. Thanks again to all involved. Yours sincerely,

Susan and Jeff Dyce, UK

Dear Liza

I felt that I must write to thank you for organising the cruise for us and the transfers from the airpott to the ship and then later to the train station.

We had a fascinating time and will be happy to recommend your company and the cruise to others.

Kind regards

Alan Frame, UK

Dear Liza,

We are back home in Jerusalem and before we get too busy, my wife and I want to thank you and your company for the wonderful service provide to us. Been our first visit to Russia we could not a better help, information and service than what you have done. All work according to the schedule, the transfers where on time and it was a great help. I will recommend people not to hesitate and book all the necessary transfers directly with your company. Thank you also for the nice accommodation you provided on the cruise boat. My wife was very happy with the cabin and more than anything about the special food prepared for us. Every day the cooks surprised us with a different vegetarian dish, which were among the best we were ever served.

We also want to thank on a very special way, the English speaking escort on board, Anna Sukhorikova, she took care of all of us like a mother, went the extra mile and way behind the call of duty. She was always willing to help and make sure everybody was doing well.

The only thing my wife and me regret is not having an opportunity to hear during the cruise, more about Russia after the Soviet era. They cover all the rest of history well, but not in the ship neither the local guides shared much about present days. This is just a constructive remark for your company to consider for future.

Also we are very thankful of the optional offered on board for the Moscow show. I think is not emphasized enough how excellent it is. I will highly, highly recommend it to everybody. It was one of the best shows we have seen of its kind.

Again, thank you for your service and the way you answer all my questions. We will be happy to recommend your service and product to our clients.

Best regards from the city of Jerusalem.

David and Ana Assael, Israel

Dear Liza,

I did not have computer access whilsr away to write and thank you and my ancient cell phone was not working . We enjoyed our trip and our drivers. The first guide in Moscow and the guide in St. Petersburg were both excellent and smoothed the trip. The hotels were exactly as expected and good value for the price and all plumbing etc worked unlike my visit 20 years ago We liked the restaurant too in Moscow but in St. petersburg with less crowds enjoyed the opportunity to eat out. B oth hotels were excellent positions and had good and helpful staff Overall with all the changes in Russia the lovely fast new train to St Petersburg and the wonderful buildings and museums we loved our few days
Sincerely

Anne Gambrill, New Zealand

Thank you Liza for organizing our trip to Russia. The hotels were generally very good and our guides (Leona-Moscow/Katyia-St Petersburg) were excellent. We very much enjoyed our visit to Russia.

Stuarte Kerdel, Australia

Dear Daria,

I just wanted to say thank you so very much for helping plan our trip to Russia. Everyone at your office and the mini-van drivers (Alexander and Victor) were wonderful. Helpful and kind. You were also so very helpful when we had trouble with our flight in NYC and were going to be arriving in Moscow late.

I would recommend your company to anyone who would want to visit Russia!

Thank you so much! Spaseeba!

Melissa Siebke, USA

Liza,
We are back in Australia and I wanted to thank you for organising our vacation in Russia. Everything worked as planned and we had a very interesting and enjoyable experience. We are very glad that we held out for the suite. It was very comfortable.

Thank you for your very professional assistance.

Alan Reed, Australia

Elena,

I just wanted to take this time to personally thank you for the
wonderful experience we had in Russia. As you know by Don´s note we
had a great vacation. You and Liza were so helpful in making the
arrangements and being so flexible with all of the unexpected
changes. The vacation was beyond our expectations. The individual
tours via Elena, Maria and the driver Victor in St. Petersburg,
made our experience richer by allowing us to sample the local
customs, hear about the history and provided an opportunity to appreciate the culture. The people we encountered were friendly, helpful and genuine.

Thanks so much for a lovely vacation and a lifetime of experiences
we will not forget. We highly recommend your tour group.

Suellen Jackson-Boner, USA

Elena

Suellen and I want to thank you and Liza for all your hard work that you did making our trip to Russia the best vacation we have ever had. We understand that you both went above and beyond the call of duty as we went through changes, changes to the changes and finally more changes. We would recommend your travel service without hesitation.

We were so pleased with the professionalism and sensitivity of our guides and drivers. Thinking back I am not sure our Elena, our Moscow guide, was able to show us all the sites providing plenty of time at each location. She did a great job.

In St. Petersburg Maria was amazing, she was able to avoid crowds as she took us room to room in the Palaces. She gracefully was able to make ad hock changes based on our needs. Victor, our driver was very helpful and also went beyond the call of duty. When he picked us up to take us back to the airport he even came up to the room to help with the baggage.

Suellen and I believe the crew of the ship was working hard to make our cruise a good one. Our main issue with the ship was the tours and options tours offered. The staff and meals on the ship were very satisfying. We were happy with being able to stops at the small villages on route to see rural Rissia.

Thank you both again,

Don Boner, USA

Wonderful experience, welcoming and helpful.
I´ll recommend to others, and we will seek your services if ever we return to St. Petersburg.

Michael Werner,
Family with young children,
United Arab Emirates

Hi from the USA, Liza,
I got home on schedule early this morning. The plane flights went smoothly.
Once more I say "Bolshoye spasibo!" to you and your company for my excellent vacation. All the drivers did a great job in such a huge and complex city. My guides --- Lena, Natasha and Maria --- all spoke English very well, and were so very knowledgeable. They answered my every question. The folk show was delightful, and the ballet was not overly modern. I enjoyed it. In my free time I used my guidebook for some extra activities. For example, on my first day, when I visited you at your office, I was walking a route along the Moika and Griboyedov canals. My last activity was a very pleasant excursion in a boat on the Moika, Neva and Fontanka Rivers while I listened to a narration (in Spanish; I was a missionary in Peru for a while). As I now page through my guidebook, I usually say, "Been there, done that". And that is because of you and your fellow staff, who arranged a very personal tour for me. I was delighted to be interviewed at the end. I hope my comments get you some business. May God bless you.

Fr. Daniel Kresinski, USA

Hello Marina!
We are back in Puerto Rico and we want to thank you for the excellent service you provided to us. Thanks for everything.

Irma Caballero, Puerto Rico

Hi Elena,

We still have fresh memories of our wonderful visit to magnificent St Petersburg. Thank you for providing excellent service and wishing everyone in your Company a Happy New Year. Please pass on our special thanks and best wishes to Maria and Mikhail.

Regards,

Victor Nikolaenko & Family, Australia

Dear Ksenia & Helena

Just wanted to thank you for all the preparatory work and guidance !
Everything went very well and we had really some nice time (and weather) in
Moscow.
Really appreciated your professional help and wish you the best.

Best Regards

Hugues de Talhouët, France

Dear Elena,

Attached are few selected pictures from our Russia trip album.

It all started with Elena, who patiently worked with us through numerous e-mails to help us plan the perfect itinerary. Elena went over all the minute details with us and we were ready to take off.

Our guide Lena in Moscow was just great. She is very knowledgeable, interesting, personal, and courteous. We learned a lot from her in two days including the History of Russia. The panoramic tour was very informative. We also enjoyed Tolstoy Estate. By the end of our tours with her, we felt we were saying goodbye to an old friend. Valentina took us for our walking tours in Moscow. She too is great and knowledgeable. She tried to maximize our visit to the Kremlin and made sure we saw and learned everything. She was very helpful at Old Arbat and made our souvenir shopping a breeze. She also hooked us up with a nice restaurant there. Our driver Alexander took us on four trips from and to the airport. He was a pleasant young man and punctual. We joked around with him trying to help him improve his English. We found out that he is getting married in August. In St. Petersburg, our guide was Anna. Anna was like a breath of fresh air. She is young but mature and responsible. She tirelessly used the phrase “our beautiful city” numerous times a day. We loved her accent when she said it. She made sure to show us and prove to us how beautiful St. Petersburg is. Peterhof is like a fairy tale. Anna proved her expertise in the art when we toured the Hermitage with her. She has great insight and explained the paintings and art beautifully. Her driver Victor is a gentleman and very helpful.

All our guides were very proud and enthusiastic about their country. Their ultimate goal was to make us appreciate Russia and to make sure we tell our friends about their beautiful country and we sure did.

Thank you all for taking the effort to make this a once in a lifetime trip and an unforgettable experience.

Said & Zein Kayyali, USA

Dear Elena,

I am sorry it took me so long to get back to you to express
our gratitude for the marvelous job you did in arranging our tours and
train trip to Moscow. Everything went beautiful. It was a wonderful
experience thanks to you and your tour guide in Moscow, Lena, who gave
us the best tours in the world. You should always use her because she
is the best. Give Lena, our regards and express to her our gratitude
for showing us your beautiful country.

Regards,

Nancy Pazos, USA

Hello Elena,

I want to let you know that Dana and I had a wonderful time in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Tonya, Valentina and Lena were fantastic!! What beautiful and clean cities!! I wish we had spent a day or two more in Moscow but we thoroughly enjoyed our time at Peterhof and Catherine’s palace. I could definitely see myself coming back for another visit. Thank you very much for arranging everything and answering all my questions. I will encourage people to travel to Russia for vacations and also refer them to you and Express to Russia.

Thank you again,

Rebecca McCarthy, USA

Thanks so much Elena.

It has been such a pleasure dealing with Express To Russia and with you in particular. I really appreciate your professionalism and helpfulness and I will definitely recommend you to my friends who are travelling to Russia.

Best regards

Louisa Fitz-Gerald, Australia

Dear Alina,

I´ve been back from holiday for a few weeks now. I just wanted to thank you again for all you did to get our train tickets to us at our hotel - especially as it was during your weekend time. My friend & I both had an amazing time in Russia. I will definitely remember Express to Russia for my next visit :) Thank you.

Margaret Marchant, New Zealand

Dear Elena.

Returned in Argentina I send this e-mail to say that tours organization was premium.
I shoud mention the excelent service and cordiality of Mr. Alexei Uspenskiy. He speeks a very good spanish and knows so good the SP history.

Best regards,

Guillermo Berger, Argentina

Dear Elena,

Thank you so very much for organizing our trip. Everything went wonderfully, and we really enjoyed our time in Russia. Moscow was beautiful, Lake Baikal was very cold, yet very fun to swim in, and the DPR Koreans that I met and made friends with in Vladivostok was beyond priceless. The guides you got for us did an exceptional job, and the drivers helped us out a lot as well. The hotels you got for us were great, and the room you got for us in the Vladivostok really made the long stay comfortable. The trains were also very enjoyable as was the Russian hospitality, although we really weren´t expecting people to be so generous or helpful. Overall, the trip was wonderful, and you arranged it magnificently. You really went out of your way to accommodate my schedule and help me with my schoolwork, so I really appreciate it; I couldn´t have done it without you.

So once again, thank you for all of your efforts, and hopefully in the future you will be able to help us out again. Take care, and thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

Cody Frovarp, USA

Dear Elena,

In the meantime I returned from St. Petersburg to Germany. I had a real
great stay in St. Petersburg.

I would not miss to thank you for your very interesting and well-organized guided tour to Catherine’s Palace and the Amber Room (together with my guide Maria) and the well-organized transfers from and to the airport.

Thank you very much!

With kind regards,

Birgitta Janke, Germany

Hi Liza,

I just wanted to drop you a line and to say I was very happy with the service you provided, especially when there was a problem with my transfer in St. Petersburg. Knowing I could reach you made my life a lot easier! If you would like to use me as a reference in the future please feel free to do so.

Thanks again!

Robert Charlton, USA

Elena,

Thanks for all you did to make my vacation a memorable experience.

My guide was wonderful, and thanks to the kindness and generosity of the young woman who used her cell phone to call you and let the guide know where I was waiting when the meeting place was blocked off, I was able to see the Kremlin.

St. Petersburg is definitely a city I would visit again given the opportunity.

Jana Bettis, USA

Good afternoon Marina,
Thank you so much for all your hard work on my trip! I had a wonderful time and everything you had planned worked just beautifully. I was especially appreciative of Alla Levitina, my guide while in Moscow. She was so knowledgeable and agreeable to answer my many questions and her patient attitude made me feel very comfortable. She enabled me to vastly increase my understanding and appreciation for the people of your wonderful country.

Thanks again and perhaps we can work together again in the future
Regards,

Doug Cheves
Houston, Texas, USA

Hi Alina,

We LOVED the train ride. It was the highlight of our trip.
Moscow and St. Petersberg were unforgettable. The people we met were so lovely.
St. Petersberg is definitely a place we want to revisit over and over again. A part of us is still remains there.

Thanks again and we look forward to doing business with you soon.

Take care,

Nico Sakellarides

Hi Marina,
I have just got back from my trip to Russia and I wanted to take a moment to tell you about my experience with your company:
I was extremely pleased with the 2 guides you provided for my walking tours of Moscow & St Petersburg. Firstly both guides arrived at my hotels exactly on time and were very polite and friendly. They both spoke excellent English, they were very knowledgeable and they were interesting throughout the 3 hour tour. I even passed on your information to a tourist in the lobby of my hotel who enquired about my walking tour after she overheard the initial meeting between the guide and I. I also had you book a train ticket from Moscow to St Petersburg and you handled that really well including having the guide bring it to me prior to our walking tour. Your prompt responses to my email enquiries and your regular updates were very well received. Overall I was really impressed with your company and I would highly recommend you to anyone who is thinking of traveling to Russia. Thanks you!!
Best regards,

Marina, I want to express my greatest gratitude in making our tour a reality. We enjoyed the tour so much. It was very well organized and the guides were very professional and nice. We had a great time in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The schedule was well balanced with enough time to rest and do extra things. We had such a good time that we are planing to invite other family members to Russia and do the tour again possibly next summer. So as we get closer to the summer of 2010 I will contact you to help us with these future reservations.
Sincerely,

Mitchell Chaar, USA

Hello Marina,
Everything was perfect.
Saint Petersburgo is marvellous!!!
Thank you very much for your attention.
We will recomend your Agency to our friends.
B. regards,

Silvia Tous, Spain

Daria,
Thank you very much for your quick reply to my emails. Excellent service.
Best Regards

LIM SIEW K, Singapore

Zdravstvyite Alina!

Thank you so much for getting our tickets! I am so happy that everything is now in place and we are now ready to come to Russia! Please can you tell us where your office is in St Petersburg? We would like to come in and thank you for everything while we are in the area! Thank you so much for everything! Blagodaryu Vas za vsio!

John Walker, UK

Dear Daria, Many thanks to the work you and your team has worked to help a dream come true so i can go see my girlfriend in russia and propose to her! i found the services excellent, most helpful with added visas on your site that this site I have seen nowhere else. Russia is a new tourist destination and your team is at the forefront of providing a hassle free service. I will defenitly be using this site again when i next vist. A very happy customer mr ben adams Again many thanks to Daria and im looking forward to my holiday and engagement plans.

Mr Ben J Adams

Dear Anna,

Thank you very much for your services and prompt disposition to help,
I will certainly recommend your company.

Sincerely,

Enrique Castanon, USA

Dear Anna,

We want to thank you and your staff for all the help that made
our holiday in St. Petersburg and Moscow a wonderfull time to remember.
We will always cherish the days we spent in St. Petersburg, the accommodation was very good and confortable better than the one in Moscow.
In both cities we were treated with respect on public transport and wherever we went.
Thanks to all the drivers for all their help and a special thank you to the gentlemen who took us to the station.

There is a possibility that we will travel to Russia again, there is always more to see and revisit the old places.

All the best to everybody.
Sincerely,

Elisabetta and James Laird, Australia

Dear Maria, Thank you for the email confirming my train from Moscow to St Petersburg. Thank you very much for all your hard work with my request over recent months. I greatly appreciate everything you have done.
Yours Sincerely

Paul Dempsey, UK

Good Morning Elena!

Just a quick note to thank you so much for all of your help in making arrangements for our day in St. Petersburg. We had the most magnificent time ever!!

Your driver and guide were prompt and professional, and there was nothing we could ask for that they werenґt happy to do for us. We recommend your company highly, you are all highly professional and accommodating. So we thank you for that.

Yana took us everywhere...a quick breakfast, a city tour, with stops...Peterhof and the Hermitage, and knew every possible thing about all of it. Did a wonderful critique on the artwork at the Hermitage, gave us some time for shopping, and appreciation of our surroundings.

She was a wonderful guide...and made sure we saw everything. We had time for a fabulous dinner at a restaurant on the Canal, where we had the best borscht and chicken kiev and Russian Standard Vodka!!!! (We invited both Yana and the driver to dinner, but they both professionally declined). And guess what Elena, we did indeed go on the ґcanalґ ride. even in the drizzle of rain, so it was splendid!

We never stopped until it was time to board the train.....both she and the driver must have been exhausted....I know we were, but with memories to last a lifetime.

So thank you all so much for all you did to put St. Petersburg on the map for us with lasting, wonderful memories.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Coppola Giarratano, USA

Dear Alisa:

I wanted to tell you that our trip to Russia was absolutely fantastic. The drivers in Moscow and St. Petersburg were absolutely competent and
professional. The guides impressed us with their deep knowledge of Russian
history, architecture, and art, and with their ability to answer all questions and to accommodate our personal preferences.

Also, the pleasant personalities of the guides in both cities made our trip extra enjoyable. Thank you so much for your help, and I will be glad to recommend your agency to anyone interested in traveling to Russia.

With best wishes,

Marie Hadji, Santa Monica, CA

Hello Anna

I must say you are one of the most efficient people I have worked with about this trip to Russia. I am very thankful for your attention. And I really appreciate the different apartment. It is within walking distance of many of the places I want to see in St. Petersburg.

Thanks again

James R. Tucker

Dear Maria,

Thank you very much for your help and good service.
I had a nice time in Moscow. I particularly enjoyed my stay at the White House Suite.

Best regards

Ali Chouchane, UK

Maria, I wanted to thank you so much for you and your staffs help. I enjoyed the stay in Moscow and I am really looking forward to another trip to see more.

Svetlana and Fred were very curttious to me and also a great help. Also even enjoyed the ride back to the airport…..I like the way people drive there.

Once again thank you

Sincerely,

Tim R. Thomason

Dear Maria,

Thank you very much - I look forward to receiving the tickets.

May I take this opportunity in thanking your company for all your help in planning my trip on the Trans Siberian, it has been an excellent service - I canґt wait to start my journey.

Yours sincerely,

Joanna Timms

Dear Nadia,

I meant to write to you much sooner, but despite the delay, I can say that I was very pleased with the Arbat Flat, and especially with the help and support of your Moscow office staff.
Svetlana was especially helpful with good advice and assistance with taxi arrangements. Both of the young women were cordial, friendly, and seemed to enjoy their work. They made a great impression on us.

Best wishes and thanks,

Alison Hilton, USA

Hi Nadia,

I am back in Australia after my great trip to Europe and wanted to send you a quick email to thank you for the great apartment that you arranged for my brother and myself in Moscow. I must admit when I saw the outside I was a little concerned but when I got inside it was great - great views and location.

As a result of all your help making my trip so enjoyable I have been recommending your company to people back in Australia. As I am a school teacher a few of my colleagues who travel a lot have taken your details.

Once again thank you for all you have done and if I donґt return in the immediate future some of my friends will.

Kindest Regards

John Hupalo, Australia

Dear Nadia,

We had a wonderful time in Moscow. We liked the apartment and especially the location of the building in the vicinity of the Tverkaya Ul.
The arrangement with the driver at Domodedovo worked out beautifully.

Bye bye

Adrianus Hermus, Netherlands

Dear Nadia,

Thank you very much for the organisation, everything was very good. Also Moscow office helped me for the transfer to the airport yesterday.

Thanks again for everything and i hope i can come again.

Sincerely,

Esin Usak, Turkey

Dear Nadia,

Thank you for perfectly organised arrangement. It was a pleasure to use your company and I will highly recommend it to my friends and colleagues.

Best regards,

Julia Gladchenko, New Zealand

Nadia,

Just wanted to say Greg and I had a wonderful time in St Petersburg and Moscow. I shall be recommending your apartments to everybody I know. Especially the St Petersburg apartment. Thank you very much.

Thank you

Aldo Bermudez, USA

Dear Elena,
We have just returned from our tour to Russia. Our entire tour with Express to Russia was very enjoyable. We feel we got very good value for our money. We enjoyed our hotels, the Bega seemed more like a 4 star than 3 star. Our meals were great. The best part was our tour guides and drivers. They did everything they could to make our tours satisfying and enjoyable. They were fun to be with and were extremely knowledgeable and insightful. Lena and Aleksander and then Leana made us feel welcome in Moscow. Sergie and Yuri brought to life, Sergiev Posad, Vladimir and Suzdal. And Tania and Victor helped us enjoy St. Petersburg and finally Nadia and Victor showed us Pushkin. Please pass along our thanks and appreciation to them.
Regards,
Ron and Marcy Allen
ps. We did "Feel Yourself Russian" at the Nikalievski Palace one evening and found it to be a lot of fun and good value also.

Ron and Marcy Allen, USA

Dear Elena,
Chava and I are back home in Israel after a magnificent holiday in Russia.
We would like to thank you for arranging everything so well and especially for choosing two excellent guides.
Lena Vinogradov was a delight in every respect, knowledgeable, intelligent and a wonderful companion. Natalya in Saint Peterburg was charming, very professional and great fun to be with. Victor our driver in Saint Petersburg was particularly kind and helpful.
Thank you for your kind gift and you can be sure we shall further recommend your services to our friends in Israel.
Dosvedanya,

Frank and Chava, Israel

Hi Elena,
we are back to Canada, we enjoyed very much Russia, Moscow, what a nice city.....
the guide was very good with a perfect french language
Thank you again for your support

Janine Rochon, Canada

Hi Elena,
I canґt tell you how much we enjoyed our trip in Moscow. Lena was great, very knowledgable, very helpful and took us to places we really liked. The second day was a bit too much for me and we had to cut the tour short by 2 hrs. The lady who took to the Tretyakov Gallery also did an outstanding job. I would certainly recommend your tour company to my friends.
Eventhough the hotel was far from the city center, it was clean, quiet and had friendly employees. The breakfast was wonderful! Dinner was expensive but we expected that. I must say that doing this over the computer was a little scary but it worked out fine. Thanks ever so much for all you and your colleages did for us. I wish we could come and visit Russia soon again.
Most Sincerely,

Leila Lombardini, USA

Dear Elena,
I would like to thank you for all your help with our recent trip to Two Capitals and the Golden Ring in reverse order. Everything went really well, my Husband and I had a great time, really loved Russia and it’s people.
All our Tour guides and Drivers were both friendly, helpful could not do enough to make our trip both memorable and enjoyable.
The hotels you helped me choose, were in excellent locations and offered good breakfast and friendly service.
Once again, Thank you. I would recommend your company to anyone.
Regards.

Joyce Evans, UK

Dear Elena,
I want to tell you what a wonderful job your company did with our Moscow visit. Both of the Lenaґs were excellent-smart, nice most helpful. We have done a lot of travel and these two were great! Our driver was also very good. We had one Lena do the historical portion and was with us most of the time.
Many, many thanks,

Milton and Margie Ruben, USA

Back again in office from my Moscow trip last week. We were very happy and satisfied with the car service you offered us and specially with Nikolaj, the best driver from Moscow. We wish to thank you and Nikolaj as well for this great support which made our stay and work in Moscow more than comfortable.

Best regards,

Emmanuil Gatsios, Germany

Dear ELENA and Dear TANIA:

I should have sent you a message with our THANKS!! as soon as we returned to US, Sorry for the delay - but anyway receive here our BIG THANK YOU!! for the Wonderful trip to SANKT PETERBURG!!
Let us say WELL DONE to our GUIDE and Good Friend TANIA - her patience to explain time and again the details of Russian History was very valuable, because even when we believed we were familiar with this History it is different when you have to relate names and facts to specific places.
To our Grandson NICOLAS the trip to RUSSIA was (he has said many times) the MOST IMPORTANT EXPERIENCE - for a person going for the first time outside AMERICA (he has been in central and South America before) going to EUROPE and in particular to an IMPPERIAL CITY is something very special

GRETEL KAUFMANN and NICOLAS SCHANK, USA

Elena,

I was a member of the Music Tour that you handled this past week. We stayed at the Dynasty Bed and Breakfast. We all had a great time and your staff made all of that possible. Very, very nice. Eugene is a great tour guide, well informed and enjoyed his work.

Marilyn Hanson, USA

Hello Elena,

Thank you so much for taking such good care of us while we were in St. Petersburg. Everyone enjoyed the tour, our guides, and drivers. We were even blessed with good weather. The hotel was certainly convenient to getting around on our own.

It was a pleaseure to meet you, too. Thanks for bringing the Folk Show tickets to us yourself. We all enjoyed the performance and another opportunity to shop, of course. An added bonus was the city parade on Saturday.

Thanks again. I just wanted you to know how pleased we were with our visit to your lovely city.

Best regards,

Bonnie Meyer, USA

Dear Elena and team,

We thank your team for making our visit to Russia so endlessly memorable -- and special appreciation to Nastya for helping Lola through my two days´ absence in hospital. Everything went well afterwards, especially with Julia on the Vladimir-Suzdal tour.
Perhaps we may meet again someday.

Stanley Toomath and Lola, New Zealand

Dear Elena,

We had a marvellous time in both Moscow and St Petersburgh. The hotels were good, the tours excellent and all of your arrangements worked very efficiently. I believe we were even very fortunate with the weather. Thank you very much for your help in organising the holiday. We will certainly pass on your details to anyone we know who may be visiting Russia.

We would also like to thank our guide in Moscow, Leanna, for a wonderful tour
and a very warm welcome to Russia.

Our thanks once again,

Best wishes,

Ray and Bettina Crayton, USA

Hi Elena,

I wanted to send you a quick note to let you know how much we enjoyed the tour through Russia.

Let me start off by saying that I appreciate all of the attention that you gave me when preparing the trip. Your responses were prompt and your answers and suggestions were always helpful. Everything was very well organized by Express to Russia. The guides were very knowledgeable, nice, and punctual. It was great to have such personal attention in a small group. The tours were interesting and we learned a lot about Russia and its history and culture. It even sparked our interest to purchase a couple of books on Russia to learn more.

The hotels were generally good for 3-star hotels. They were clean and the staff were friendly. Unfortunately, the hotel in Moscow had no hot water. I have a feeling that this is not uncommon and it takes away from the pleasure of the trip.

The guides were also very attentive to my motherґs needs. For example, my mother doesnґt hear well from her left side so the guides made sure to stand on her right side so that she could hear better.

Regards,

P.S. Thanks for arranging such nice weather in St. Petersburg!

Roger Rhoades, USA

Sorry for getting back to you so late, but I have been quite busy these days in the office after my short vacations. The trip you organized was great, just amazing. Let me comment every aspect:
- The train to St. Petersburg was quite an experience. The same trip that took us back to Tallinn in 4 hours, this train spent 9!! Basically stops almost 3 hours in the border were controls are done by 4 different police divisions (2 from Estonia and 2 from Russia). It was not only a trip to Russia, also to 40 years ago!! The Russian border guards were like the ones in KGB films, a bit scary. We all loved the experience, but we will not do it again :)

- St. Petersburg was perfectly tied up. The bus was waiting for us at the train station, took us to the hotel were we could take a shower (obviously the train has not this). The guide we had was very well prepared, I would recommend her for any tour in Spanish, English or French as she was really fluent at the three of them. The hotel (Helvetia) it is a must. New and very well placed in the city. The restaurant was superb with an outstanding service.
- The bus from St. Petersburg to Tallinn was a nightmare until the border due to the pavement. Russiaґs road was so bad that the bus hardly speeded over 40km/h! Once entered to Estonia the road was smooth as silk!
Thanks again for your help. Amazing trip we had. My family loved it!
Very best regards,

Phillip, USA

Dear Marina, We have just returned to Australia and this is the first chance I have had to contact you. I would like to thank you for organising the tour and also for the gifts that you sent to us at the conclusion of the tour. First of all, I must congratulate you on the way the tour was organised. From the time that we first arrived to the time we left, there was not a single problem and there was not a moment that we did not totally enjoy the experience. Well done! I must also make special mention of the guides and drivers. Because we had Victor and Jana for 4 days(sorry if I have spelt the names incorrectly), we got to know them very well and we were very impressed with the way they worked as a team. They went out of their way to make the tour unforgetable. Please pass on our thanks. The Moscow guides were also very helpful and we were impressed by the knowledge and willingness to help us durng our stay. I will certainly recommend expresstorussia to friends. Once again, thanks for a wonderful team effort.

Ken and Mavis Prosser, USA

Marina,The tours were great. Thank you!
Regards,

Charles Miller, USA

Marina, Iґve arrived in Poland and wanted to express my deepest appreciation for your planning the visit to Russia. The tour with Olga was the very best!!! Your support was truly superb. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment and appreciate the opportunity to see your great country. Thank you. Please let me know if you are ever in Washington D.C. and I can return the favor or at least show you the places Iґm fond of.
Sincerely,

Ron Oswald, USA

Dear Marina,our group returned from Russia on Saturday. I would like to thank you very much for your excellent service, welcoming approach and overall support. All the hotels and dinners (maybe with the exception of dinner in Moscow) were very good, and all in all our clients were satisfied. We are well aware that you had a lot of work with our group, so once again thank you.
I wish you all the best, and hope we will have a chance to cooperate once again in the future.
My Kindest Regards,

Lenka Ludvнkovб, Czech Republic

Hi Marina, We are in Tokyo and getting ready to return to Hawaii. The trip to Russia was great! Your planning and assistance was key to our having a really enjoyable time. We would like to thank you for all you have done for us. Thanks again,

Robbie Fisher, USA

Just back from holidays. We had an amazing time. Loved St Petersburg very much. Thank you for helping us organizing the trip. I found your website very helpful. And all staff very profesional and helpful as well. So big thanks again to everybody in the office. We would like to return to russia for moer holidays at some point.

Please feel free to post this to your website and to share this with my tour guides in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

I just wanted to email you to thank Express to Russia for the outstanding tour your company put together for me recently. I had a wonderful time and have nothing but positive things to say about the experience.

First and foremost, I was blessed with incredible tour guides for both cities. They both had an amazing command of English and were both warm and easy to get along with. Their knowledge of the cities was also amazing, as evidenced by me commenting to my St. Petersburg tour guide once that it seemed like she could tell me something about every building we passed by. She was able to talk history, architecture, art, and a wide variety of other subjects. In both cities, I felt immersed by their knowledge, which added immeasurable value to the experience.

I had no problems at all with the various occasions I was being picked up. Everything worked like clockwork and the drivers were always very polite. The fact that you gave me such a detailed itinerary before the trip made things a lot easier for me.

Both hotels were also very nice and clean.

I especially appreciated the flexibility that was shown when my flight into Moscow arrived several hours late. I had thought the tour for that afternoon would be cancelled, but my tour guide simply shuffled the itinerary around, with the result that I was not short-changed at all.

My only suggestion would be to add an excursion to your St. Petersburg tour specifically designed for the Siege of Leningrad. When I asked, my tour guide stopped us by the monument to the Siege that is located on the drive to the Summer Palace. However, it would make for a good excursion to include a visit to the memorial, to the museum, and to the mass grave at Piskarevo Park (plus other sites). Many Americans are familiar with the Siege, so Iґm willing to bet that such an excursion would be popular.

Thanks again! Iґve already told people I know to contact me if they ever want to visit Russia because Iґll set them up with your tour company.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeKever
West Point, NY

Dear Elena:

Thank you for all the arrangements and good advice for my recent trip to Russia. Your driver, Victor, was perfect: he gave me a tour of the route from the airport and even taught me some Russian words. The hotel Nevesky was just right for me, a single. The staff couldnґt have been more friendly and helpful right up to my leaving; by then we were up to hugs for goodbyes! (We overcame the language problem with much laughter.) Not a fancy place, but more than adequate and the ladies made me feel very comfortable. I would recommend it to anyone! I loved Russia and hope that I can make the trip again...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Best regards.

Helen Deckelman, USA

Hello Elena! So very sorry this thank you is soo late but i wanted to thank you and your very fine organization for a truly wonderful trip! Everything went just fine and no problems at all! All members of our trip had a great time!We also wanted to thank you for providing us our truly great driver Nikoli Dimitrov! He was not so much our driver,but he was a true member of our party! He was GREAT!! We look forward to booking our trip to MAKS 2009 with your firm , and wish to have our new friend Nikoli as our driver.Many thanks to you all and wishing you the best for the new year.Thank you again Elena! I will write again in ґ09.

Mark Korade, USA

Dear Elena
We both want to thank you for arranging our wonderful holiday. St
Petersburg is a beautiful city with so many lovely buildings and places of
interest. It was all made so much more intresting by our two wonderful
guides, Oksana and Albina, their command of English was excellent and their
knowledge incredible and they were both so willing to help us with whatever
questions we posed.Without them we would never have got so much from our
visit.
The guide at Novgorod again spoke very good English and was very
informative.
Our driver, Vasilly, was also excellent, driving us with great
care and always there when we needed him and also very willing to help us.
The same can be said of all the staff we met at the hotel who were
all very pleasant and did their best to make our stay a happy one.
We both feel we have learnt a lot and thoroughly enjoyed our
holiday and we would love to go back to see more.
thank you again

Susan Holmes, UK

Dear Marina, now we are in Paris.We want to thank you for all that you did for our nice trip. Irina and Tanya [the guide in St. Petersburg] were specially nice and efficient. The taxi drivers were on time always.
Thank you again for your help.

Columbia, Sonia Echeverri

Dear Nastya,

just a few lines now that we are back to work, after some days spent in Berlin. I have to tell you that we found Fontanka 38 really nice. The first poor impression about the entrance and the stairs disappeared soon, just after crossing the door (I know itґs not in your hand, but the aspect of the stairs is a bit frightening for western tourists!). But once there, we appreciated the simple and functional Ikea style, not very different from what we have at home. The appartment was clean and comfortable, and we were really at ease. Besides, your services proved to be accurate, with transfers to airport on time and english speaking drivers.

So, congratulations for your job, we spend five lovely days in yor city, and I will recommend you if I have the opportunity.

Best regards!

Oriol Nubiola, Lidia Sans, Spain

Marina.I wanted to write as soon as we returned, but I was back to work almost immediately.
My daughter and I had a great time in both places, Moscow and St Petersburg.
First, the schedule was followed right on time by the very professional guides and drivers, which was very important to me, since I value punctuality and to keep up with the schedule when I travel.
The guides (two ladies called Lena in Moscow and Anna in St Petersburg) spoke perfect English which I complimented all the time (we live in the US, but English is not my first language).
They were very knowledgeable and answered all the questions we had about history and culture, aside of the descriptions of the places we visited.
I thanked them personally, but I wanted to let you know that they add to making the trip enjoyable.
The hotels were well located, the Cosmos hotel in Moscow is right across a metro station, which we used without problems. People gave us indications about maps and subway just by hand signs in different places, since they did not speak English, neither us Russian.
My favorite hotel was the Pushka Inn in St Petersburg because of the charming building, the location and the attention of the staff. Also, breakfast at the Pushka Inn was excellent.
The tour of the Kremlin and the Tretyakovsky State Gallery were my favorites in Moscow. As per the city of St Petersburg and all the places we visited there exceeded our expectations.
I highly recommend your organization to any traveler; please feel free to add any of these comments to your website.
Thanks again,

Graciela Lopez,USA

Marina, I am home and wanted to send you a special thank you for a well organized trip. I enjoyed my trip to Russia and the Ukraine. All the hotels were very good 3 star hotels. In fact, July 4th was USA National Day and the Lybid hotel gave me a bottle of champaign and a fruit basket. This was a surprise and very much appreciated. All the transfers were on time and cordial. All the tour guides were friendly and knowledgeable and the tours were helpful. The tours provided me with an orientation of the city on arrival before I travelled around independently. Suzdahl was a particularly charming town and very memorable. St Petersburg was very European and the Hermitage and Petrovets/ Peterhof was to be remembered. Moscow was a much more interesting city than I expected. The Kremlin was unforgetable and the excellent metro system made it easy to move around the city. Kiev was also interesting. The Caves Monastery was very unique and Independence Square was bubbling with activity. The 4 berth overnight train rides were comfortable and thanks for the lower berths. I had not thought of the sleeping locations. Every train departed and arrived on time. I had also been warned by everyone before leaving that St P and Moscow might be dangerous for non-whites. While I believe every big city has its dangers, I did not find a single incident dangerous nor did I experience any racism. In fact, on a few ocassions I was lost and even though there may have been a language barrier, helpful Russians pointed me in the right direction.
Thank you again for a job well done. I will recommend to my local agent that they consider Express to Russia and yourself as an agent for Russia land tours.
Spassibo

Ernest Thomatis, USA

Thank you for arranging the apartment and transfers in St. Petersburg. Everything was wonderful and we enjoyed the apartment very much. I will recommend you to my friends who travel to St. Petersburg.

Amy Lesiewicz, USA/Russia

Dear Nastya,

Now that we are back home, though feeling rather ґhung overґ with the excitements of our visit to your extraordinary city as well as to Moscow, we are writing to thank you for your many kindnesses and your attentiveness to our comfort and convenience during our visit. You have a most impressive organisation which, we are sure, is enhanced in its work by the unwearying commitment of you and your colleagues.

By the way, if you know of anyone who might be interested to explore a gap in the shuttle bus market, we think there must be an opportunity in ferrying visitors between Pulkovo I and Pulkovo II. A fare of 100 Rbl each way would probably not be unreasonable when taxi drivers ask (but in out case did not get) 1000 or 1500! It would be much easier than having to take the 39 coach towards the city and getting off and crossing the road to catch the 13 shuttle on its last stop before turning into Pulkovo II (even though that method is even cheaper)!

Our kindest regards to you and your cooleagues who assisted us,

With best wishes,

Gordon Read, UK

I just wanted to send an email thanking you and everyone we met while in Russia for a wonderful holiday! My friend Shea and I had a fantastic time all round... everyone was so friendly and the service was excellent, particularly from you all at the Northern Lights, our guide Eugeny (wonderful!) and driver Michael (so courteous!) in St Petersburg.
The staff at the Bega Hotel in Moscow were also extremely helpful, as was our guide, Liana. All in all an amazing experience. I have highly recommended going to Russia to everyone since Iґve returned to the UK and I would point anyone in the direction of Express To Russia for the excellent service and care we received.
Many thanks again and keep up the good work!

Justine Bond, UK

Thanks very much for sending your newsletter. I was very pleased with your services last summer when I went to St Petersburg and i may envisage to come back next year. If so no doubt i will contact you.

In the meantime, i wish you all a very happy new year.

Best regards

Margareth Thorion, France

Dear Marina,
Thank you to you and Elena and the rest of the staff for making our vacation so special. Everything went without a hitch, and the tour guides we had were great. Our guide in Moscow, Liana, was very knowledgeable about both the Kremlin and Russian art. Our guide in St.
Petersburg, Anastasia, was fantastic. She went above and beyond any duties, and she was very knowledgeable about all the places we visited.
She was very tolerant of our 7 year-old, and she was interesting, and warm and kind. She was a very good fit with our family. We would highly recommend your travel agency and guides to anyone traveling to Russia. Thank you and good job!

Vicki Steinwurtzel, USA

Marina, I wish I could have come by to thank you in person in St. Petersburg, but Yana said your offices were closed.. The trip was just fantastic ! Every thing went well for us. We have so many great stories and pictures to share with our friends back home. If you ever need references for anyone, please feel free to send them my email. Lena and Yana were both great guides !

William Morgan
Houston, Texas, USA

Dear Marina,

My family and I thank you for your good assistance and services in regard to our recent trip to Russia. You provided everything we needed for a safe and very satisfactory experience during our trip. Everything we requested, you provided, and your service personnel were excellent.

While it is hard to single out any one person from such an excellent group of drivers, tour guides and travel assistants, because they were all very professional and very helpful to strangers such as us, we would particularly like to thank Anastasia, our guide in St. Petersburg for the last two days. She does an excellent job, is very professional, has patience and humor, and could not have been more helpful or informative. She has a great future in the growing business of tourism, but would do well anywhere and in any public position. Her intellect and communication skills will carry her far.

All your people exceeded our expectations and we want to again thank them, and you, for your assistance. You made our trip comfortable and enjoyable and educational and took the stress out of the little things that so often create problems.

Charles Hall, USA

Hei/Hi Mariya,

Sorry for being a little bit late giving feedback from our great journey! We just needed some time to digest all the impressions and editing the pictures.
Everything worked out really well to our satisfaction! You and your partners have done a great job. All transfers drivers were waiting for us and waiving the banners! We got all train tickets and hotel vouchersas promised.

Moscow was beautiful and hot, Baikal was exiting and cool (only 2 of us went swimming before we new the temperature was only 6C :-).

The trains were very comfortable with good service and restaurant cars (except train #364 which did not have any restaurant). Hopefully the Russian custom control also will speed up their check procedures soon so the boarder crossing does not last for 7 hours any more (since Naushki was not a very exiting city...)

Mongolia also met our expectations and the ger camp was very comfortable (may be too well organised eliminating some of the challenges expected, and they did not serve us airag, the fermented horse milk beverage).

Beijing was even more commercial and well organised than we had expected, but gave us the tourist traps and shopping which we needed after 15 days on the way!

I have enclosed some snapshots from the tour.

Than you again!

Halvor Royset, Norway

Dear Marina,
We would like to say thankyou for your help in organising our fantastic holiday in Russia. We had a wonderful time and were very happy with both hotels, especially the petro palace who upgraded us to their "apartment" which was amazing. - the biggest bath I have ever seen and a built in coffee maker, my husband wants one for our house now!
Everything worked out perfectly and I will recommend Express to Russia if I can persuade any of my friends to holiday in Russia.
We tried to visit you in St Petersburg to say thankyou in person, but we were told you worked in a different office which we couldnґt find.
Thank you again, and if you ever need any advice on holidaying in Scotland feel free to get in touch.

Lisa Keany, Scotland

Dear Marina,
Thank you for everything that you did. We had an absolutely wonderful time. So good in fact that I have passed on your name to other people who plan to visit Russia. A number of South Africans and American. Your tours and tour guides are the best! We are already talking about all that we missed and thinking of taking in Kiev next time.
Thanks once again.

Jennifer Brennan, USA

I hire an apartment on St. Petersburg on Nevsky 66.
The place is perfect, in the best area to be (just 10
minutes walking to the hermitage). If you want to have
dinner you just walk around and youґll find lots of
restaurants. And the service is good they give me a
lot of interesting information. I was very impresed of the
apartment and the service. Thank you for everithing Dasha.

Bernardo Gonzalez,
Mexico

Dear Dasha

We are now back home in Australia and I just wanted you to know that we appreciated the way you handled our booking in St Petersburg. It can be difficult sometimes dealing with tourists so, many thanks, we have good memories!

Kind regards

Carol McGarrick,
Australia

Hi Alisa,

We just returned to America. Our days with Anna were great. Thank you for a great experience in St. Petersburg...and relay our appreciation to Anna and our driver.

Lynn Connelly, USA

Alisa,

I just wanted to thank you for all the hard work youґve put in helping us organize our trip. Everything was wonderful and you were a big part of it.

I would highly recommend your services to anyone whoґs going to Russia in the near future!!!!

Mariya Kemper-Reiss, USA

Hi Dasha,

Thanks for making my trip comfortable and the apartment was perfect!

Beso,

Carlos Lewison,
USA

Hi,
I have just come back from my trip to Saint Petersburg and I have seen the roses and chocolates that you delivered to Natalia and I just wanted to say a big thank you as they looked wonderful.

Yours sincerely

Steven Tsang

Hi Dasha,

Great to meet you last week, and thanks for everything. Brooke and
I enjoyed the apartment quite a bit.

Hope to see you again in May!

Best,

Jeffery Meyer, USA

Hello Alisa:

I wanted to thank you for helping make my trip so enjoyable. Elena and the driver on my city tour were very nice and quite helpful. Albina made my trip to the Hermitage one to remember. She is very knowledgeable about the art and history and conveys her knowledge quite well. My shopping trip with Albina and Victor was a real pleasure. Victor really made an extra effort to get me where I wanted to go and make sure I got what I wanted. A very nice day spent with two very nice people.

Thank you again for helping make my trip one to remember. I have referred you to a couple of my co-workers.

We enjoyed our little, clean, newly adapted room with tea, coffee and fridge in a rather safe and very central area. We met the owner when stoping with the taxi to ask where it is, because finding the adress should be marked very clealy. A picture on the web would be nice before booking.

Thanks for you personal help on the phone.

Kind regards

Walter, Eva and daughter Nina

Hi everybody,
I’m so glad let you know, that our stay in Russia in summer 2005 were very interesting, successful and very nice. We were in St. Petersburg for three days. We booked our hotelstay via internet und we get a answer shortly after booking. The paymentmethod was easy und correct. The hotel was a good choice. It was clean, centrally located und our voucher was accepted without difficulties.
So I like to say thank you to all of the team.
We will go to Russia in the summer 2006 too. I’m sure, that we will book our appartement and the invitation for the visum by your young growing company as well.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I’m looking forward to contact you in the next Year.

Best wishes

Sabine Dugge, Germany

Hello Elena!!
Just wanted to say hi and thank you!!
Everything was perfect as you arranged it. The driver was at the airport, the hotel was ready, no problem, and thanks to you.
It was wonderful doing business with you, and will be a returning customer later this year.
thanks, again,

Ernesto Mendez, USA

Dear Anna,
We have arrived back in Pretoria and I am back at my desk. We were initially a bit apprehensive about setting up our tour on the internet, so I thought to let you know that we were very happy with every aspect of the service you provided. The bookings, appartments, transfers, rail trip and car/driver were all excellent. Many thanks. Regards

Graham Randall, Pretoria, South Africa

Hi Paul,
Martin and Elena here from New Zealand. Sorry I didnґt get back to you sooner but I have been a little busy at work and also entertaining my wifes sister who has come over from Russia for my wifes graduation from university. We had a wonderful stay in one of your St Petersburg apartments during the Russian summer. The apartment was imaculate, modern, clean and tidy and just around the corner from Nevsky Prospect. I have been to Russia on many occasions and the apartment "beat the hell" out of some hotels I have stayed at in Moscow. Needless to say, if I was coming back to St Petersbug again I would certainly stay in one of your apartments and I have no hesitation in recommending them to future visitors to your city.

However. The biggest service your company did for us was to arrange the invitation which every private visitor to Russia has to have in order to get a visa. This service was invalueable and I have twice recommended you to fellow New Zealand travelers to Russia who used this service and one of them leaves for Russia in two days. For those unfamiliar with the invitation from OVIR, believe me when I say it is a nightmare of red tape and Russian bureaucratic nonsense and it usually takes my sister in law months to arrange after hours of standing in the famous Russian queue for documents. But, with your service, all I did was give you my details and 25 days later my invitation arrived.

Once again. Thanks very much and my next invitation will certainly be arranged through your company.
kind regards,

PS. Many thanks to Ira who always kept us informed via email of what was happening prior to our arrival in St Petersburg.

Martin and Elena Forman, New Zealand

Dear Paul,
We so very much enjoyed our stay in St Petersburg. For me especially it has been a long held ambition to come to Russia, and now I will certainly return. I was impressed by the spaciousness and quality of your lovely apartment, it was so central and yet so peaceful. I love the fact that the building was old and original and maintained this impression, balcony and big windows, while being so modern and comfortable inside. Everything we needed was provided. You and your staff were so helpful to us. I have traveled a lot including Prague and Venice, both noted for their beauty, but for me St Petersburg itself is by far the most unique and beautfull city.

Ivarna Kalinkova and Edward Henry, South Shields, UK

Dear Maya,

I`d like you to thank you for your excellent hospitality and services provided during my wife and her guests visit to St.Pete. Starting from meeting late at night on time I heard that everything was perfect; the central location, european fit out, clean, tidy, economic. This was her third visit and the best accomodation services taken among all. Others like beverages, city maps, etc were a bonus. You will definetely be the first that I will remember in my next St Pete visit.
Regards,

Deha, expat from Moscow

Dear Katya,
Once again thank you for organizing the apartment for us in St Petersburg. The service from your office (and via the website) was friendly, efficient and helpful. Our apartment (Moika 28) was delightful to stay in for the week. It was very clean when we arrived and had plenty of room for two couples.
The location was fantastic.
Kind Regards

Ben Rogers, Australia

Dear Maya,
Many thanks for once again your swift response and the professional standards that you operate to; it is truly appreciated. I will have to make sure that when I am in Russia next that I buy you a drink for keeping romance alive between Natasha and myself
Best wishes and thanks again

Chris Bradly, UK

I want to thank you at this time for the wonderful service that I have received. It is my intention to return to Europe in March and at that time I will use your company to go to St. Petersburg once again.

Ray Middleton, New Zealand

Hello Anna,
A brief & belated note to thank you for all the effort you put in to making our holiday fantastic – we really enjoyed ourselves!
The apartment at Moika 28 was excellent and all the transfers worked really well. So thanks again and I hope many more people use your service!
Kind regards.

Anne Bell, Australia

Dear Anna, Paul and Co,
Just to say how much we enjoyed our stay in St Petersburg thanks to you all.
The possibility of renting apartments when we go to St Peteґs is excellent and you sorted out all issues very well.
Cooks Restaurant was great by the way - so thanks for the recommendation.
See you soon and if we can be of any assistance to you in Moscow just let us know,

Vanessa and Peter O’Brian, Ex pats in Moscow

Hi Masha, I just wanted to thank you for organizing such a great trip for us. Our guide Anna was great, smart and very educated on all topics, fantastic to have around! The hotel was very confortable, Georg the driver was efficient and so typically russian, I think... If one little detail could have been better it is to combine both excursions out of St Petersburg the same day since most of the road is the same. But trully I will recommend your organisation to friends and relative that may want to come and visit St Petersburg. Thank you for your great job and your follow-up.

FRANCOISE BELFROID,
Belgium

Hello Alisa, Hello Dasha

We came back three weeks ago and had to attend to lots of chores that are now all under control.
Please accept biiig thanks from Mr. Sims, my husband Dan and myself .
Your organization of our visit to your beautiful country was impeccable. We felt well-taken care off and very special!
We loved all the tour guides you have allocated to us - but Elena Vinogradova in Moscow, a wonderful human being who was closer to our "age" and far more experienced a guide - was our favorite! We shall certainly recommend your agency and Elena Vinogradova as a guide - to anyone that we know wants to visit Russia.
Young Anna and especially Elena Kaschevskaya made our stay in St.
Petersburg a very, very enjoyable affair. They were efficient, knowledgeable, extremely helpful, kind and personable young ladies.
We fell in love with the driver Sasha in St. Petersburg! What a character! We even christened him with two more "informal" names:
"The formula 1 driver Sasha" or on occasion: "a Kamikaze driver Sasha"!
:-)))) Still, Sasha got us where we were going in the shortest period of time through the heaviest road traffic with admirable driving skills and without the scratch - on the car or the passengers! :-)))) [this is supposed to be a "smiley face"]
We did have a slightly disturbing experience when Mr. Sims was pick- pocketed in St, Petersburgґs underground, but he managed to cancel his credit cards before the big damage could be done and soon got back on his feet. After that incident however, he was not willing try the underground transport again.
Well, I guess this says it all Alisa. Ah, yes, I hope Elena Kaschevskaya mentioned to you that my husband wanted to bring you a bunch of flowers as a way of thank you for taking such good care of us.
We are so sorry that we never had enough time left in St. Petersburg after the guides would return us back to the hotel - to make it to your office before closing time.
So here is a picture I took of the of flowers we wanted to buy for you...
Thanks again for everything and....KEEP UP A GOOD WORK.

Kind regards

Sonja Myers,
USA

Andrei,
Many thanks. I would like to say that I have been very impressed by your prompt service and customer care. I will be recommending your service to my family and friends.

Simon Futo, Great Britain

Myself and my friend Kevin Foy stayed in the Ermitage until Sunday the 22nd of August.I just wanted to drop a note to you to thank you for being so professional and kind to us. We will certainly recommend the Ermitage to our friends!

Seamus Sweeney

Dear Elena
We have just arrived home from our holiday, having spent a week in Finland after we left St Petersburg. This is just a quick email to thank you and your colleagues for all your help with our arrangements. It all went very smoothly.
We loved St Petersburg and will definitely come back for a longer stay at some point in the future.

Kate Heyman

Dear Elena,
I am writing to thank you for organising the excellent hotel Admiral for us in St Petersburg. The room, bathroom etc were very nice and the ladies in charge were extremely kind, friendly and helpful.
Also the tour of the Hermitage on July 5th with Anna Lapteva was the highlight of our time in St Petersburg. This most beautiful and highly educated young woman gave us three (my husband, daughter and me) a personalised tour of the beautiful treasures in the Hermitage and taught us a lot about the development of Modern European art over the centuries. Her high level of knowledge and her charming manner was very very impressive. Please pass on our appreciation to Ms Anna Lapteva if possible!
Thank you again!

Mara McKenzie

Hi Alisa!!

Thank you so much for your help!!! We had a great time with Julia!!!
We appreciate all you did!!! Our time in St. Petersburg will NEVER be forgotten!!! My father still talks about it and I´m sure he will for a long time!!! Julia did an incredible job as well as Alexi the driver. I know none of this could have been done without you so please accept our sincere thanks. If there is anything we can do for you... please let me know!

Again - thank you so much!!!!!

Joy Ellsworth, USA

Hello Elena!!
Just wanted to say hi and thank you!!
Everything was perfect as you arranged it. The driver was at the airport, the hotel was ready, no problem, and thanks to you. It was wonderful doing business with you, and will be a returning customer later this year.
thanks, again.

Ernesto Mendez, USA

Dear Elena,
We enjoyed our stay in Saint-Petersbourg. The Filippov hotel is very nice.
Thank you very much.
Best regards

Nathalie Charriere, France

I would have sent you a message anyway to say thank you very much for all the help you gave us in organising our visit to St Petersburg. We are now safely returned.
Everything was wonderful. The staff at the hotel at Vladimirsky III were friendly and helpful. The hotel itself was perfect, all that was needed, with a great location for seeing everything. When we needed a big bar and excellent jazz music, we popped into the ground floor of the Radisson, on the next corner!
The Bliny restaurant around another corner was good too. Being able to walk to all the places we wished to see was also helpful in getting a sense of the city.
We were especially happy to be very close to the Ackhmatova Museum. We came because of the Mannerheim Exhibition, at the General Staff Building, saw the ballet Don Quixote at the Mariinsky, visited especially the Dutch masters at the Hermitage, and the magnificient Russian Museum; and took a boat trip out onto the river!
The taxi met us exactly at the airport, and was helpful in making sure we reached the destination, which is not simple, with the hotel up the stair case.
I would strongly recommend your services to anyone else contemplating a visit to the city, and we thank you very much indeed.

Anne Page, Great Britain

Many thanks for all your help in making our stay in St. Petersburg such a wonderful experience for my family. The apartment was lovely, centrally located, and very reasonably priced. Loved the high ceilings and big windows. The location could not be better. My father has a pacemaker and he walks very slowly, but he had not trouble making it to the Hermitage, St. Isaacґs and the Assumption on foot. There was a 24-hr market around the corner, and a lovely pastry shop a block away. The price was better than a hotel, or any of the other apartment rentals I checked. This was my third trip to St. Pete with my wife and son. The two previous times we had stayed at a friendґs house. This was our first time with you and I did not want anything to go wrong as my parents, who are in their mid-70s, were joining us this time. I appreciated Dashaґs quick and reassuring responses throughtout, as well as Natashaґs help and professionalism. Also, I am very glad we took advantage of the transfers to and from the apartment. The driver was punctual, reliable and corteous. In short, my parents are walking on air after their first visit to St. Petersburg. It is a wonderful city, but you really helped make our stay truly enjoyable for the whole family.
Many thanks to you.

Francisco Gonzalez, USA

Dear Anna, We are back home in Bangalore after a very nice hoilidays in Moscow & St.pґburg. Thanks a lot once again for the excellent arrangements.

Dear Anna,
We have arrived back in Pretoria and I am back at my desk. We were initially a bit apprehensive about setting up our tour on the internet, so I thought to let you know that we were very happy with every aspect of the service you provided. The bookings, accommodations, transfers, rail trip and car/driver were all excellent. Many thanks.

Graham Randall, Pretoria, South Africa

Our whole family had a great time in St. Petersburg, and you company’s help was a big part of that. They were always kind and helpful and arranged for all kinds of things, from a great babysitter to advice on nearby stores. The city is so stunning, and being able to stay right in the heart of things walking distance to all the sights made our trip much more enjoyable than others we know who stayed farther out and didnґt have the kind of help that you offer. We also highly recommend that anyone going buy the Knopf Map Guide before coming, it helps you to understand where the apartments are as well as the many other amenities and aspects of the city.

David and Lizzie Saltz Athens, GA

Hello Anna,
A brief & belated note to thank you for all the effort you put in to making our holiday fantastic – we really enjoyed ourselves!
The accommodations were excellent and all the transfers worked really well. So thanks again and I hope many more people use your service!
Kind regards.

Anne Bell, Australia

I want to thank you at this time for the wonderful service that I have received. It is my intention to return to Europe in March and at that time I will use your company to go to St. Petersburg once again.

Ray Middleton, New Zealand

Hello Anna,
Thank you so much for all your efforts to deliver the flowers at the changed date and at so late a time, I appreciated it. I would also like to thank you for such an excellent service and I will am sure I will use this service again, and others. I also found all the info on the website regarding all the services offered very informative and will hopefully use them when I eventually visit St. Petersburg. At that time, I will need accommodation, holiday visa, etc. Thank you again for the excellent service, I have been told the flowers are very beautiful and look forward to seeing the pictures as soon as you have them.

John Kwok, USA

We were pleasantly surprised with our accommodation in St. Petersburg, because we had been late in booking for a popular Russian holiday weekend and expectations were low. The apartment was clean, comfortable and conveniently located so we could walk to the tourist highlights and great restaurants. Victor and Anna were very gracious hosts and I certainly intend to contact you again when I want accommodation in St. Petersburg.

Marjorie Jackson, Ex-pat, Moscow

Dear Maya,
Many thanks for once again your swift response and the professional standards that you operate to; it is truly appreciated. I will have to make sure that when I am in Russia next that I buy you a drink for keeping romance alive between Natasha and myself
Best wishes and thanks again

Chris Bradly, UK

Dear Maya,

I`d like you to thank you for your excellent hospitality and services provided during my wife and her guests visit to St.Pete. Starting from meeting late at night on time I heard that everything was perfect; the central location, european fit out, clean, tidy, economic. This was her third visit and the best accomodation services taken among all. Others like beverages, city maps, etc were a bonus. You will definetely be the first that I will remember in my next St Pete visit.

Deha, expat from Moscow

Our experience has been very positive. As newcomers to St. Petersburg, your company helped us find accommodations in an ideal location overlooking the Neva River. We are grateful for the efficient service. You facilitated communication between us and the Russians. We were very pleased with your assistance and would not hesitate to use your services next time.

Ludovic and Lamia Descouens, France, Concord Catering

Dear Paul and the rest of the team,

I wanted to write to you to express my appreciation for the way we were treated.

Firstly, the accommodations were excellent and very reasonably priced for its location in St Petersburg. It was my parentsґ first trip to Russia, so having somewhere so central, comfortable, and within walking distance of all the great sites was ideal.

We especially appreciated the guided tour that you organised for us at very short notice - the interpreter and guide was absolutley brilliant. We felt that you made a special effort us to organise this, and that the service was very personal and helpful.

Working with you over e-mail to organise the booking was also very straightforward - you were always very quick, helpful and courteous, and I felt that things were being done confidentially. It was interesting to have the details and correspondence all recorded on a secure site.

Although I speak some Russian, having people who speak very fluent english is obviously very reassuring for others like my parents who would struggle to communicate generally in Russia. I hope that I can come to St Petes again to enjoy your services once more.
Best wishes to all of you.

Nicola Smith, Spain

Dear Katya,
I wanted to thank you and the rest of your team for a truly wonderful trip to St. Petersburg. But especially you, because of your patience and willingness to work with me to make my second (but not last!) visit to Russia truly great. Tell Paul I said hi. Thanks again and I will of course be using your services again when Nina and I come back to St. Petes (as a married couple of course!).

Jeff McDaniel, Ohio

Dear Katya,
Once again thank you for organizing the apartment for us in St Petersburg. The service from your office (and via the website) was friendly, efficient and helpful. Our apartment (Moika 28) was delightful to stay in for the week. It was very clean when we arrived and had plenty of room for two couples.
The location was fantastic.

Ben Rogers, Australia

My time in Spb was made so easy by your company. You saved me money, frustration and time. The lodging was very comfortable and central, but the customer service is what really sets you apart - nothing is too much trouble, you re-assured and supported me, and offer great value for money. Iґve already booked my time with you next year. Thats a 100%
recommendation.

Clive Langham, UK

Dear Anna, Paul and Co,
Just to say how much we enjoyed our stay in St Petersburg thanks to you all. The possibility of renting apartments when we go to St Peteґs is excellent and you sorted out all issues very well.
Cooks Restaurant was great by the way - so thanks for the recommendation. See you soon and if we can be of any assistance to you in Moscow just let us know,

Vanessa and Peter O’Brian, Ex pats in Moscow

I have spent my last summer in St. Petersburg and I stayed with you on 2 different flats. Everything was perfect, from the transfer from airport up until the end of my holiday. Thanks for the professional people and perfect service.

Daniele, Rome, Italy

Dear Paul and Anna,

I would like to thank you for the excellent accommodations and service. The information on the website and efficient email communication allowed making the right choice and facilitated the travel arrangements. My friends and I enjoyed very much staying in a clean and spacious apartment in the heart of St.-Petersburg, two steps away from the major attractions, and at a fraction of the cost of the nearby hotels. I am very glad to have chosen your business, I will use it again, and I will certainly recommend it to anyone I know. Please, keep up with the good work.

Alexander Salenikovich, Quebec

My family of 5 spent 3 glorious days in St Pete. We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment rented to us by your company. You picked us up at the train station, took us to this apartment that had a great location in the center of the city. The apartment was very clean, comfortable and spacious. It was kept clean by a local maid.
I would highly recommend your services for their value and location.
Thanks again,

Percy P. Batlivala, New Delhi, India

Dear Paul
Your team is friendly and competent and you could not do enough for us when we visited Russia in June 2004. The flats we rented were spacious and reasonably priced and situated centrally. The Russians, not unlike the Scots, are dour but proud of their fascinating country and generally helpful.

Moscow may only require a few days, but St. Petersberg demands a full week and is best seen on foot. Make sure to have tea at the Astoria hotel -Hitler could not!

Alan Anderson, Scotland

To Paul and the staff,

I wanted to thank you very much for your help in my recent visit to St. Petersburg. I visited the city from November 2 through November 13, 2004. Every step of the way, from initially looking at apartments online, to booking the apartment, to follow up emails, to actually getting the transfer to the apartment was handled not only professionally but personally. It is a nice touch that you provided a personal contact at your office that I could reach at almost anytime of the day. Her name, of course, was Katya. She was a delight to work with. She handled all of the arrangements with patience and grace.

I have visited Russia before, but never St. Petersburg and had some concerns about using an apartment versus a hotel. Utilizing an apartment instead of a hotel room was not only a savings in money, but was so much more comfortable as well. The apartment was very clean, warm and fully equipped from a satellite television, to bath towels, to pots and pans for the kitchen. Having a cleaning lady stop by every few days was a nice touch.

I am a business owner myself and I know how it can be tough some times to always put your best face forward to clients. But I stopped into the office several times and the staff was always eager to answer any questions and help me with anything. There was one time I remember I had to stop into the office and Paul was the only one there as it was a holiday weekend.
He took the time to help me and my fiance out and even hailed a cab in the pouring rain. It is touches like this that make your company great and I see only a bright future for you.

I definitely will recommend your company to anyone who asks and will be utilizing your service in the near future for an apartment in Moscow next year. When my future wife and I come back to St. Petersburg (hopefully very soon), of course, you will receive a call from us.

Thank you again for all your help and wonderful service. I wish you a happy new year and continued success.
Respectfully yours,

P.S. Hi Katya!!

Jeffrey A. McDaniel, Ohio, USA

Paul,

Having made several trips to Russia in the past few years, the idea of spending another two weeks in small, expensive hotel rooms was not exciting me. The opportunity to rent an apartment had some real advantages. The service from your company were precise, timely and without problems. Your people were courteous and helpful and the apartments met my expectations 100%. I will certainly have no hesitation in using your services again and recommending them to my friends and business colleagues.

Nick Lockyer, KPS Maritime, Australia

I am a German Expatriate working in Saratov, Russia. I use my vacation to get to know the country. For a four day trip to St. Petersburg with my parents who flew in from Germany, I made a reservation with your company. The accomodation was right next to Nevsky Prospekt and very well equipped and very clean. You also organized tours for us to Tsarskoje Selo and Pavlovsk on the first day and Peterhof on our second day. You picked us up in a very comfortable Van and while riding to the sightseeings the guide gave us lots of information about the history, present and future of St. Petersburg. So additionally we also got a St. Petersburg sightseeing tour! The palaces in Tsarskoje Selo and Peterhof are usually very crowded. Lots of tourists were waiting at the entrance but thanks to you we were in there in a minute. The guide was also experienced in those places and gave us useful informations and hints. To sum it up, we really enjoyed St. Petersburg and the tours. My parents were very enthusiastic about St. Petersburg and promised to come back next year! Thank you, that our trip to St. Petersburg is still very vivid and pleasant in our mind.
Best regards,

Andrea Friedel, Robert Bosch Corporation

Dear Paul,
We so very much enjoyed our stay in St Petersburg. For me especially it has been a long held ambition to come to Russia, and now I will certainly return. I was impressed by the spaciousness and quality of your lovely accommodations, it was so central and yet so peaceful. I love the fact that the building was old and original and maintained this impression, balcony and big windows, while being so modern and comfortable inside. Everything we needed was provided. You and your staff were so helpful to us. I have traveled a lot including Prague and Venice, both noted for their beauty, but for me St Petersburg itself is by far the most unique and beautfull city.

Ivarna Kalinkova and Edward Henry, South Shields, UK

Hi Paul,
Martin and Elena here from New Zealand. Sorry I didnґt get back to you sooner but I have been a little busy at work and also entertaining my wifes sister who has come over from Russia for my wifes graduation from university. We had a wonderful stay in one of your St Petersburg apartments during the Russian summer. The lodgings were imaculate, modern, clean and tidy and just around the corner from Nevsky Prospect. I have been to Russia on many occasions and the apartment "beat the hell" out of some hotels I have stayed at in Moscow. Needless to say, if I was coming back to St Petersbug again I would certainly stay in one of your apartments and I have no hesitation in recommending them to future visitors to your city.

However. The biggest service your company did for us was to arrange the invitation which every private visitor to Russia has to have in order to get a visa. This service was invalueable and I have twice recommended you to fellow New Zealand travelers to Russia who used this service and one of them leaves for Russia in two days. For those unfamiliar with the invitation from OVIR, believe me when I say it is a nightmare of red tape and Russian bureaucratic nonsense and it usually takes my sister in law months to arrange after hours of standing in the famous Russian queue for documents. But, with your service, all I did was give you my details and 25 days later my invitation arrived.

Once again. Thanks very much and my next invitation will certainly be arranged through your company.
kind regards, Martin and Elena.

PS. Many thanks to Ira who always kept us informed via email of what was happening prior to our arrival in St Petersburg.

Martin and Elena Forman, New Zealand

Dear All,
I am very pleased with your service in Saint Petersburg. The apartment that you rented to me, located at Dumskaya 5, was an excellent place. There were all the necessary things to live with comfort and the whole apartment was new, operative and clean. The apartment is in a building located near the most important places in the city.

Visa support is another good service of your company. I could get my visa without any trouble, easily and quickly. Later, your stamp in it was enough to leave Russia.

Your staff, in Saint Petersburg, is efficient, kind and affable. I have to write specially about Anna. She was always ready to help us in everything, from the beginning to the end of our stay in Saint Petersburg. She solves everything and she never loses her smile. She is an authentic professional. In her, you have an excellent collaborator. Congratulations! I am sending now a photo of Anna, as we promised to her.

If I’ll come back to Saint Petersburg (or Kiev), you can be sure that I’ll contact your company again. Thanks for your offer; I’ll take it in account. My best wishes for the New Year 2005 to: Paul, Anna, Ira, Katya, Elya, Maya and Igor
Sincerely yours,

Humberto Glaser, Chile

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